


Siriusly Black Omens

by acmparker



Series: You're a Parent, Severus [3]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Book 3: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Gen, Harry Potter was raised by Severus Snape and Remus Lupin, Lily Potter and Severus Snape have a blood bond, Manipulative Albus Dumbledore, Severitus | Severus Snape is Harry Potter's Parent, Severus Snape Adopts Harry Potter
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-28
Updated: 2019-06-01
Packaged: 2019-11-07 03:08:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 17
Words: 43,000
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17952497
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/acmparker/pseuds/acmparker
Summary: Severus Snape had formed a Blood Bond with Lily Evans when they were at Hogwarts. This means that when Lily dies there is another whose blood relationship with her is recognized by the blood ward Dumbledore places on Harry. Severus Snape decides to check on how the Dursleys are treating Harry, about a month after Lily's death, and isn't pleased with what he finds. With the help of Remus Lupin, Severus has been caring for Harry ever since.Harry starts third year with the threat of escaped prisoner, Sirius Black, hanging over his head. Luckily his dad's are there to help him.





	1. Sirius Black

**Author's Note:**

> All italics are a direct quote from the books.
> 
> A note about full moons. In the book the timing of the full moons that we know about don't work so I have decided to use a lunar phase calendar I found at https://moonphases.co.uk/moon-calendar. As a result the timing of the full moons in this fic will not match those in the original. 
> 
> It took me longer than I expected to build up a reasonable buffer, it's been a busy month. I like to be a couple of chapters ahead of where I am posting so that I have a chance to go back and change things if I find I'm writing myself into a corner. I hope to be able to keep up with posting a couple of chapters a week but I'm not sure if I will be able to.

 

“Harry, it’s time to get going!”

 

“Coming, Dad.”

 

Harry grabbed his broom and hurried to join his dad in the back garden. They were apparating to The Burrow to visit the Weasley’s. Harry’s dad had been there several times already that summer, but Harry hadn’t been able to go with him because most of the Weasley family had no idea that Harry was living with Severus and Remus, instead of his Muggle aunt and uncle. No one was supposed to know about Harry’s true living arrangements for fear that the information would get back to Albus Dumbledore, who had been the one to leave Harry with his abusive relatives in the first place. Harry was really looking forward to seeing Ron again. They had talked on the phone several times since the start of summer vacation, but it wasn’t the same.

 

“Hold on tight, Harry.”

 

Severus turned on the spot and the two wizards found themselves standing outside the front door of The Burrow. Snape knocked on the door and waited for Molly Weasley to let them in.

 

“You’re right on time, Severus, Ginny is waiting for you. We can’t thank you enough for all that you have done for her. Oh! Harry, I didn’t know that you were coming as well.” Molly gave Harry a hug as he followed his dad into the house. “It’s so nice to see you. Ron’s upstairs, in his room. You can go right up.”

 

Snape scowled after the boy as he headed up the stairs and then turned back to Molly.

 

“Remus insisted that I bring him along, since he’s visiting us right now. Personally, I would be happier if I didn’t have to see Potter during my holidays, but Remus seems to actually like having the brat around. How has Ginny been doing since my last visit?”

 

The adults conversation was cut off from Harry’s hearing as he entered Ron’s room. Ron leapt to his feet from where he had been sitting on his floor beside an open trunk, when his friend entered the room.

 

“Harry, did you hear? Dad won the Daily Prophet draw! Seven hundred galleons! We got our picture taken for the paper and everything, and we’re going to visit Bill in Egypt! It’s going to be amazing! I’m glad you were able to come with Snape this time because we’re leaving in a few days and we won’t be back until just before the start of school.”

 

“I’m glad I was able to come, too. How have the Occlumency lessons been going? Dad says I’m doing well but it certainly doesn’t feel like it.”

 

“Oh, I’m pants at it.” Ron said cheerfully. “I can’t clear my mind worth beans with Snape glaring at me, waiting to invade my mind. He probably knows more about me now than I do. Luckily I’m not likely to end up face to face with You-Know-Who so it probably won’t matter.”

 

Harry nodded glumly. He’d already faced Voldemort twice in as many years so he really needed to master Occlumency. He didn’t want to risk revealing his dad’s true loyalties to the Dark Lord in some future encounter.

 

“I’ve probably got an advantage over you in learning it. Dad’s been teaching me to meditate ever since I was little and apparently meditation is a great help in mastering Occlumency. It’s still bloody difficult though.”

 

“I’m sure you’ll get it, mate. How’s Hermione doing?”

 

“She’s brilliant at it of course. She’s got an odd way of doing it, though. She goes over facts in her head, from whatever book she’s been obsessing over most recently, and that blocks Dad from going deeper to access other memories. He’s managed to get through, eventually, every time, but she can keep him out a lot longer than I can. I’ve tried to do the same thing but it just doesn’t work for me.”

 

“Of course Hermione would find a way use books to make Occlumency work for her. Let’s head outside. I can finish packing later.”

 

The two boys enjoyed the summer sunshine until Snape called them back in for an Occlumency lesson.

 

“Hey, Ginny,” Harry greeted the young witch who was sitting at the kitchen table as he entered the room. “How are you feeling?”

 

“I’m fine. Professor Snape says I’m recovering really well from what happened last year. Did you hear about Dad winning the Grand Prize?”

 

“Ron told me about it. I hope you enjoy Egypt. It sounds like it’s going to be a really interesting trip.”

 

Ginny left the kitchen and Severus started the lesson. Neither boy succeeded in keeping him out of their mind, but Harry showed some improvement. Ron, on the other hand didn’t do well at all. His excitement over the upcoming trip kept getting in the way of his attempts to clear his mind.

 

“That’s enough for today,” Severus decided after several attempts where Ron’s performance kept getting worse. “If you are still interested in learning Occlumency, Weasley, I will see if I can find a way to keep teaching you when the school year starts. Maybe I can assign Harry or Hermione to give you remedial potions lessons, under my supervision of course.”

 

“Can I stay here for a while longer?” Harry begged his dad. “I’ve hardly had a chance to visit with Ron yet.”

 

“As long as it’s ok with Molly. Moony can come to pick you up later.”

 

“Great! I brought my broom, Ron. Let’s go find Fred and George and play some Quidditch.”

 

After an afternoon of Quidditch with his friends, Harry reluctantly took the Floo home with Moony. Hermione had told him that her parents were planning a trip to France, during her last visit, and now Ron was headed to Egypt. It was going to be a long summer with both Ron and Hermione gone.

 

Harry moped around for the next week, despite their house elf Dobby’s best attempts to cheer him up. His birthday was coming up but the only friend who was going to be able to come to his party would be his neighbour, Emily. He and Emily had been friends since they met on their first day of school but they had been drifting apart since they started going to different boarding schools. It didn’t help that there was so much that Harry couldn’t tell Emily about Hogwarts, since she was a Muggle.

 

On the morning of his birthday, Harry woke up to a tapping on his window. When he opened the window, three owls flew in, Hedwig, the Weasley’s owl Errol, and an unfamiliar tawny owl. Errol appeared to be exhausted and Harry quickly removed the parcel attached to the elderly owl’s leg and carried him to Hedwig’s cage.

 

Hedwig also carried a parcel, which turned out to have come from Hermione and the third owl had a package and Harry’s Hogwarts letter. Harry opened the packages and read the letter from Ron happily before opening the present that his friend had sent, a Pocket Sneakoscope. Hermione had sent a Broomstick Servicing Kit for his birthday and the last parcel was a gift from Hagrid. The groundskeeper had sent Harry a biting book, ‘The Monster Book of Monsters’. Harry wondered why Hagrid thought that he would find the book useful.

 

Deciding to leave the Hogwarts letter for later, Harry headed down for his birthday breakfast, a large cake that Dobby had made for his birthday. As they ate, his dad told him they had a surprise for him. They were going to spend the day at Thorpe Park, one of the best theme parks in the UK. Emily arrived with her parents shortly after they finished breakfast and the two families headed off together to the amusement park.

 

When he got home that night Harry fell straight into bed, forgetting all about his Hogwarts letter. He didn’t remember it until he was getting dressed the next morning and saw the letter sitting on his desk, where he had left it the day before. Picking it up he noticed that it was rather thicker than usual. When he opened the envelope he discovered that this was because it included a permission form for visiting Hogsmeade, the wizarding village near Hogwarts.

 

Grabbing the permission form, Harry ran downstairs. He could hear his dad and Moony talking in the kitchen. As he approached the room he paused before opening the door as he heard the anger in his dad’s voice.

 

“Sirius Black showed that he was capable of murder at the age of sixteen! Or don’t you remember his little prank.”

 

“I know,” Moony groaned in response. “I’ve always known that Sirius could be ruthless to those he didn’t like, but he loved James. The two of them were closer than brothers, especially after the Potters took Sirius in when his own family kicked him out. James would have done anything for Sirius and I would have sworn Sirius felt the same, and then he went and betrayed them. … I will never understand it.”

 

“Who knows what the Dark Lord offered him in exchange for that betrayal.” Harry heard his dad sigh and then continue in a softer tone. “Whatever Black’s reasons for what he did, we need to decide what to tell Harry. He needs to know about the danger he is in.”

 

Harry pushed open the door and entered the kitchen.

 

“Tell me what?” he asked. “What danger am I in this year?”

 

The two wizards seated at the table looked at their son in silence for a moment.

 

“Good morning, Harry,” Moony finally said. “You’d better sit down.”

 

Once Harry was sitting, Severus slid that day’s Daily Prophet over to him.

 

“Sirius Black has escaped from Azkaban,” he said somberly. “He is a very dangerous man, he was sent to Azkaban for killing 13 people with a single curse, and we have reason to believe that he is after you.”

 

“Why would he be after me?”

 

“Harry, you know that your parents went into hiding when they found out that You-Know-Who was after them, right?” Remus said. “Well, Dumbledore discovered that the Dark Lord had a spy watching them but he wasn’t able to find out who it was, so he suggested that your parents hide under a Fidelis Charm. He even offered to be their secret keeper but …”

 

“But your father decided that he wanted to use his best friend as their secret keeper,” Severus continued bitterly. “That friend was Sirius Black and he turned out to be the Dark Lord’s spy.  He is the reason that your parents are dead and it looks like he wants to finish the job. I’m sure that he blames you for his Lord’s defeat and his subsequent capture and imprisonment in Azkaban.”

 

Harry sat silently, absorbing this.

 

“Harry?” said Remus. “You will need to be careful and not go wandering about alone as long as Sirius is out there but precautions are being taken to protect you from him. You know that you are safe as long as you are in this house, your mother’s sacrifice ensures that, and you will be safe at Hogwarts as well. The Ministry is going to be taking measures to keep Black away from the school. And of course your dad will be there to look out for you, and I’ll be there as well.”

 

Harry looked up in surprise at this piece of news. “You’ll be at Hogwarts?”

 

“I have agreed to take the post of Defense of Dark Arts instructor this year. Dumbledore has been trying to hire me since Lockhart’s arrest. I wasn’t going to do it at first but with the news of Sirius’ escape I feel I need to be near you this year.”

 

“But what about the curse?”

 

“I’m only going to be teaching for one year. Hopefully, that will spare me the curse and in this case, I believe the risk is worth it. There is just one more thing that you and Sev need to know, Sirius is an animagus, he can turn into a large black dog. He never registered so no one else knows about his animagus form. That is probably how he has managed to avoid being recaptured. I will be informing to Ministry of this as soon as I can.”

 

No, don’t do that,” Harry blurted out.

 

“Why not?” asked Severus, with a frown. “Black needs to be recaptured and returned to Azkaban.”

 

“That’s just it,” Harry tried to explain. “If the Ministry recaptures him he’ll be returned to Azkaban and I’ll never get a chance to confront him. He was my father’s best friend and he betrayed him. I want to know why.”

 

“Harry has a point,” said Remus. “I want to know why Sirius would betray James and Lily as well.”

 

Severus nodded in agreement, he understood the other’s desire to confront Black.

 

“Alright, we won’t inform the Ministry of Black’s animagus form, as long as you promise not to go looking for him yourself. Let Moony and me take care of that. Your job is to stay safe.”

 

Harry nodded and then he remembered the form he held in his hand. Handing it to his dad he asked if he could go to Hogsmeade that school year. Snape frowned as he looked at the form.

 

“I don’t think that’s a good idea, Harry. Hogsmeade will not be as well protected from Black as the school. Besides Albus and Minerva will be expecting you to have the form filled out by the Dursleys. They aren’t likely to accept my signature or Moony’s.”

 

Harry protested but his dad was firm. It was too dangerous for him to visit Hogsmeade that year and that was the end of it.


	2. The Stray Dog

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Harry heads back to Hogwarts for his third year.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> All italics are a direct quote from the books.

A week into August, the residents of Little Whinging in Surrey noticed a large black dog wandering the streets of their town. When it lingered near 4 Privet Drive, the mother of the family that lived there grew nervous. She was afraid of dogs and she didn’t like having such a dangerous looking stray hanging around near her children. Opening her front door a crack, she thought about shooing the dog away.

 

Padfoot watched the house on Privet Drive hopefully. He hadn’t seen Harry around the house yet but it was getting close to evening. Once it was dark he would try to get a look into the windows and maybe he would see Harry inside with his aunt and uncle. As the dog continued to watch the house a woman came to the door and looked out. Padfoot pricked up his ears and studied her carefully. This must be Harry’s aunt. He thought she looked nice, although she seemed to be nervous. Padfoot gave a friendly woof to reassure her of his good intentions but she screamed and slammed the door shut again.

 

Padfoot huffed in disappointment and laid his head down on his paws, settling in to wait until it grew dark. He could hear children’s voices coming from the house. That was good. That meant that Harry had other children to play with. The dog continued to watch the house, still hoping that the boy he had come to see would emerge. He was so intent on his watching he almost didn’t notice the van arrive and park on the street near him. When the Muggles left the van and started coming towards him, Padfoot stood and watched them warily. The two men carried long poles with loops of rope hanging from the end, and the dog didn’t like the look of them. As the men drew closer, Padfoot made up his mind and took off. He couldn’t let anything interfere with his quest. He had a rat to catch.

 

It wasn’t long before Padfoot had managed to loose the Muggle dog catchers. They were used to catching ordinary dogs, not wizards in dog form, so it wasn’t hard for the Animagus to give them the slip. As he headed north towards Scotland once more Padfoot whined a little. He had been hoping to catch a glimpse of his godson before he started his long journey towards Hogwarts. Then he perked up again. It was only a few weeks to the start of term, when Harry would be arriving at Hogwarts. He would see the boy soon.

 

The rest of the summer dragged by for Harry. He finished all his homework, with some help from his dad and Moony and had Emily over to visit occasionally but he wasn’t allowed to go out on his own. If he wanted to go anywhere he had to have either his dad or Moony accompany him. Usually he ended up with both of them. By the time they headed for Diagon Alley to meet up with Ron and Hermione and their families, Harry was really looking forward to the relative freedom of Hogwarts.

 

“Did you pack the Map?” Severus asked Harry as he closed his trunk which he had packed for the school year. “I want you to use it to watch for Black, once you’re back at Hogwarts, and keep your cloak on you at all times as well. You can’t be too careful.”

 

Harry reassured his dad that he had packed the Marauders Map and had the Invisibility Cloak safely stowed away in a pocket. Severus then shrunk Harry’s trunk and they headed downstairs for breakfast, before heading for Diagon Alley. Since that night was a full moon, Severus and Lupin had arranged for Harry to stay at the Leaky Cauldron with the Weasleys before heading to Kings Cross station to catch the Hogwarts express, the next day.

 

Ron and Hermione were waiting at the Leaky Cauldron when Harry got there and they went into Diagon Alley to do their shopping together. After Severus got Harry the money for his school supplies he headed back home so that he could go to Hogwarts and get ready for the new school year. After the three friends finished their school shopping, they stopped by Quality Quidditch Supplies so Harry and Ron could admire the Firebolt on display, then they headed to the Magical Menagerie. Ron wanted to get Scabbers looked at, since he seemed sick, and Hermione was planning to buy herself an owl. While at the shop a large orange cat tried to catch Scabbers, who escaped out the door with Ron right behind him. When Ron had caught his rat, he and Harry headed back to the Magical Menagerie to meet back up with Hermione. Ron wasn’t very happy to discover that Hermione had decided to buy Crookshanks, the orange cat who had gone after Scabbers.

 

When they arrived back at the Leaky Cauldron, they found Mr. Weasley in the bar reading the Daily Prophet. Harry studied the picture of Sirius Black on the front page and wondered what he had looked like before he had been sent to Azkaban, when he had been friends with Harry’s parents. He wasn’t surprised to hear that they hadn’t caught Black yet. The escaped prisoner was probably spending all his time in his Animagus form.

 

At that moment Mrs. Weasley and the other school age Weasley children arrived in the bar, laden with shopping bags. Ginny brightened when she saw Harry and asked him if Professor Snape was around.

 

“Sorry Ginny. He was just dropping me off. He has a lot of work to do at Hogwarts.” Harry replied.

 

Percy greeted Harry in a very pompous manner, causing the twins to make fun of him, much to Mrs. Weasley’s displeasure. She was very proud of Percy being Head Boy and did not approve of Fred and George’s frivolous attitude towards school.

 

After dinner, Mrs. Weasley sent Ron up to finish packing his trunk. It didn’t take long before the other young people headed up to bed as well. Shortly after Harry had gone upstairs to make sure that he was ready for the next day he found himself heading down again, searching for the rat tonic Ron had bought for Scabbers. As Harry passed the parlour he heard Mr. and Mrs. Weasley arguing about whether or not they should tell Harry about Sirius Black. Eavesdropping on their conversation, Harry wondered what was so bad about the Azkaban guards to make Mr. Weasley talk about them like he did.

 

The next morning, they headed off to Kings Cross in Mr. Weasley’s Ford Anglia. As they drove Harry noticed an old fashioned dark green car following them, driven by a furtive-looking wizard wearing a suit of emerald velvet. He realized the Ministry was taking no chances of something happening to him before he got on the train. They reached King’s Cross with plenty of time to spare and headed into the station, Mr. Weasley keeping close to Harry all the way.

 

Once they were all loaded onto the train the children went back to say goodbye to Mr. and Mrs. Weasley. Mrs. Weasley gave them all a hug and kiss and then distributed sandwiches. As she was handing the sandwiches out, Mr. Weasley pulled Harry aside. Harry quickly told him that he already knew about Sirius Black since he had overheard them talking the night before. He thought it best not to mention that Severus and Remus had filled him in earlier in the summer.

 

Once they were on their way Harry, Ron and Hermione went searching for an empty compartment where Harry could fill his friends in about Black. They didn’t have any luck until they reached the last compartment where Harry was quite pleased to see Moony fast asleep next to the window. He had thought that Moony would Floo to Hogwarts with his dad, rather than taking the Hogwarts Express with them. 

 

“I wonder why he’s so tired,” said Ron as they entered the compartment.

 

Harry knew that Moony would still be wiped from his transformation the night before, but he couldn't say that so he thought fast. “I think he’s been wearing himself out preparing for his classes. He’s kind of nervous about teaching for the first time.”

 

Harry then explained what he knew about Sirius Black and the warning that Mr. Weasley had given him. Ron and Hermione were very frightened by the news, much more so than Harry had been. Harry was confident that his dad and Moony would be able to handle Black when they found him.

 

Ron and Hermione started talking about visiting Hogsmeade after they were done discussing Sirius Black. Harry felt glum as he listened to them. He knew that he had no chance of going there until Black was captured. Ron was horrified by this news. He suggested Harry talk to the twins about how to sneak out of the school but Hermione pointed out that that would be a very bad idea with Black on the loose. Harry had to agree with her.

 

Hermione tried to wake Moony up when the food cart arrived at the compartment but he didn’t stir. Harry who knew how exhausted Moony was wasn’t surprised. He usually spent most of the day following the full moon sleeping so this wasn’t at all unusual.

 

Mid-afternoon, Draco Malfoy showed up at their compartment, accompanied by Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle as usual.

 

“Hello, Draco. It’s nice to see you,” said Harry brightly. “Are you looking forward to school?”

 

Malfoy scowled at him and then turned to Ron.

 

_ “I heard your father finally got his hands on some gold this summer, Weasley. Did your mother die of shock?” _

 

When Ron leapt to his feet, Professor Lupin gave a snort, drawing Draco’s attention to him.

 

_ “Who’s that?” said Malfoy, taking an automatic step backward as he spotted Lupin. _

 

“He’s the new Defense Against Dark Arts teacher,” said Harry. “He’s brilliant, really knows his stuff. He’s the one who defeated that basilisk last year you know.”

 

Draco disappeared, taking Crabbe and Goyle with him. He wasn’t fool enough to start something right under a teacher’s nose.

 

_ “I’m not going to take any crap from Malfoy this year,” Ron said angrily. “I mean it. If he makes one more crack about my family, I’m going to get hold of his head and -” _

 

“I’ll talk to him, Ron. Maybe I can get him to back off, or maybe I can get Dad to talk to him for you. I think he may be the only one Draco actually listens to,” Harry said.

 

It gradually grew dark and they started to anticipate the end of their journey but the train came to a stop before they reached their destination. The lamps went out without warning and they found themselves plunged into total darkness. As they tried to figure out what was going on Neville entered their compartment and fell over Harry’s legs in the dark. Hermione went to leave the compartment to try to find out what was going on, only to run into Ginny, who was coming into the compartment. All the commotion finally woke up Moony.

 

A wavering light filled the compartment. Professor Lupin had conjured a handful of flames, that illuminated the compartment. Moony got up, but the door opened before he could reach it. In the doorway stood a dementor. The dementor drew in a long, slow breath and an intense cold swept over them all. Ginny started to shake and Harry collapsed in a fit as the dementor loomed over them. Professor Lupin pulled out his wand and drove the dementor away with his patronus.

 

“Harry, are you alright?”

 

Remus checked Harry over carefully before helping him back into his seat and giving him a large piece of chocolate.

 

“What happened? What was that thing?” Harry asked as he clutched the chocolate that Moony had handed him.

 

“That was a dementor,” Lupin answered as he gave chocolate to everyone else. “One of the dementors of Azkaban. Eat your chocolate it will help.”

 

Harry took a bite of the chocolate and felt warmth spread suddenly through his body. He smiled at Moony and assured him he would be ok.

 

“Good, I need to go talk to the driver. I’ll be right back.”

 

As they waited for Moony to return they ate their chocolate and discussed what had happened. It was clear that Harry had been affected the most by the dementors. The others had felt the draining away of all happiness but none of them had collapsed like Harry had. Harry decided that he would ask Moony about it as soon as he had a chance to talk to him alone. He knew that Moony would be able to tell him why he had reacted so differently to the others.

 

Professor Lupin returned to the carriage and told the children that they would be in Hogsmeade in ten minutes, then sat beside Harry. Harry leaned against Moony and ate his chocolate. No one felt much like talking during the remainder of the journey.

 

As the Hogwarts express pulled up at Hogsmeade station no one noticed the large, black dog lurking in the darkness near the station. The dog watched the boy with messy black hair leave the train onto the small platform, flanked by a tall red headed boy and a bushy haired girl. As he watched Harry wave at the gigantic form of Hagrid, who was gathering the first years to take them to the boats, Padfoot’s attention switched to the red headed boy. That was the boy with the rat! The dog growled, soon he would have the revenge he was denied all those years ago. The rat would not escape from him again!

 

Harry and his friends boarded one of the carriages waiting to take them to the school and then Padfoot saw another familiar figure exit the train. The dog retreated farther back into shadows as Remus Lupin boarded the last carriage. He knew that he had to be careful not to let his old friend spot him. Moony was the only one who would recognize him in his current form. As the carriages started their journey towards the school, the black dog followed close behind. When they passed the dementors stationed outside the gates of the school, Padfoot whined and shrunk in on himself but he continued forward. The dementors took no notice of the dog slinking past them, through the gates.

 

As Harry stepped down from the carriage, when it arrived at the castle, Draco was waiting for him.

 

_ “You fainted Potter? Is Longbottom telling the truth? You actually fainted?” _

 

_ Malfoy elbowed past Hermione to block Harry’s way up the stone steps to the castle, his face gleeful and his pale eyes glinting maliciously. _

 

_ “Shove off, Malfoy,” said Ron, whose jaw was clenched. _

 

“I guess I did faint, or something,” Harry told Draco. “I’m feeling a lot better now though. Professor Lupin gave me some chocolate and that helped. Did you see the dementor too? It was really awful wasn’t it?”

 

Professor Lupin, who had just gotten out of the next carriage came up to them at that moment.

 

“You must be Draco Malfoy,” he said. “Severus has told me a lot about you.”

 

Draco gave Professor Lupin an insolent stare. “That’s strange,” he drawled. “My godfather has never mentioned you … Professor.”

 

Draco turned and headed up the steps into the castle, followed by Crabbe and Goyle.

 

Harry and Hermione were pulled aside by Professor McGonagall when they entered the castle. Madam Pomfrey checked Harry over and recommended chocolate. She was pleased to learn that Professor Lupin had already given him some. Harry then had to wait a few minutes in the hall while McGonagall talked to Hermione about her schedule for the year. Professor McGonagall escorted the two students back to the Great Hall where they found that they had just missed the Sorting.

 

As Harry and Hermione sat down Ron tried to ask them what McGonagall wanted but he was interrupted by Fred and George, who were excited by the presence of Moony at the head table. Before Harry could respond to any of their questions Professor Dumbledore stood up to speak.

 

_ “Welcome to another year at Hogwarts! I have a few things to say to you all, and as one of them is very serious, I think it best to get it out of the way before you become befuddled by our excellent feast. …” _

 

_ Dumbledore cleared his throat and continued, “As you will all be aware after their search of the Hogwarts Express, our school is presently playing host to some of the dementors of Azkaban, who are here on Ministry of Magic business. They are stationed at every entrance to the grounds,” Dumbledore continued, “and while they are with us, I must make it plain that nobody is to leave the school without permission. Dementors are not to be fooled by tricks or disguises - or even Invisibility Cloaks,” he added blandly, and Harry and Ron glanced at each other. “It is not in the nature of a dementor to understand pleading or excuses. I therefore warn each and every one of you to give them no reason to harm you. I look to the prefects, and our new Head Boy and Head Girl, to make sure that no student runs afoul of the dementors,” he said. “On a happier note,” he continued, “I am pleased to welcome two new teachers to our ranks this year. First, Professor Lupin, who has kindly consented to fill the post of Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher.” _

 

The Gryffindor table erupted in applause and cheers, lead by the Weasley twins and Harry. Everyone who had met Moony at the victory party the year before was happy to hear that he would be teaching them. At the head table, Snape also clapped, a pleased expression on his face at the enthusiastic reception of his friend.

 

Dumbledore then informed the students that Hagrid would now be teaching Care of Magical Creatures in addition to his other duties. The applause for Hagrid was more general but the Gryffindor table was still the loudest. Hagrid was obviously touched by the students enthusiasm.

 

As they ate, Fred and George enthused about what a great year it was going to be. After listening to them for a while Harry felt that he had to point out that, as a teacher, Moony wasn’t going to be joining them in any pranks. The twins enthusiasm wasn’t dimmed by this at all.

 

When the feast was over, Fred and George rushed up to the Head Table to welcome Professor Lupin to the school. Harry, Ron and Hermione followed them and congratulated the two new professors before heading up to Gryffindor Tower and bed.


	3. Dealing with Draco

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The first full day of the school term is an eventful one for Harry.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> All italics are direct quotes from the books.
> 
> I realized that I had forgotten that Dobby was now Snapes house elf so I went back and added him into the first chapter. The changes are really minor but I just wanted to establish that Dobby was there.

_ When Harry, Ron and Hermione entered the Great Hall for breakfast the next day, the first thing they saw was Draco Malfoy, who seemed to be entertaining a large group of Slytherins with a very funny story. As they passed, Malfoy did a ridiculous impression of a swooning fit and there was a roar of laughter. _

 

Harry took a deep breath and then changed course, walking over to the Slytherins, leaving Ron and Hermione staring after him in surprise.

 

“Good Morning, Draco, I think we need to talk. It shouldn’t take long so I would appreciate it if you could spare me a few minutes after breakfast. Thank you.” Harry gave Draco a friendly nod and then rejoined Ron and Hermione on their way to the Gryffindor table.

 

“I don’t know how you stand that git,” muttered Ron as they sat down.

 

As Harry started on his breakfast Hermione studied the schedule that George had handed her.

 

_ “Ooh, good, we’re starting some new subject today,” she said happily. _

 

_ “Hermione,” said Ron, frowning as he looked over her shoulder, “they’ve messed up your schedule. Look - they’ve got you down for about ten subjects a day. There isn’t enough time.” _

 

_ “I’ll manage. I’ve fixed it all with Professor McGonagall.” _

 

_ “But look,” said Ron, laughing, “see this morning? Nine o’clock, Divination. And underneath, nine o’clock, Muggle Studies. And” - Ron leaned closer to the schedule, disbelieving - “look - underneath that, Arithmancy, nine o’clock. I mean, I know you’re good Hermione, but no one’s that good. How’re you supposed to be in three classes at once?” _

 

Harry looked at his own schedule. Sure enough he had Arithmancy first, at nine o’clock. He then took a peek across the table at Ron’s schedules. Ron’s day started with Divination, also at nine.

 

“Maybe she’s going to alternate which classes she attends? We can compare notes in Charms and see whether she was in Arithmancy or Divination.”

 

Ron agreed to Harry’s plan and then was distracted by Hagrid entering the Great Hall.

 

_ “All right?” he said eagerly, pausing on the way to the staff table. “Yer in my firs’ ever lesson! Right after lunch! Bin up since five gettin’ everythin’ ready. … Hope it’s okay. … Me, a teacher … hones’ly. …” _

 

After Hagrid headed up to the staff table, Ron and Hermione rushed off to get to Divination and Harry waited outside the Great Hall to catch Draco as he left.

 

“Draco, we need to talk.”

 

“What do you want, Potter?” demanded Draco glaring at Harry.

 

“I want you to lay off of Ron,” Harry said.

 

“And why should I care what you want?” sneered Draco.

 

“Look, Ron is about ready to lose it if you keep ragging on him, so unless you feel like belching up slugs again, I would suggest that you lay off. I don’t really care what you say about me, but I would appreciate it if you leave my friends alone.”

 

“Whatever, Potter.” Draco shrugged and stalked off.

 

Harry hurried off to his Arithmancy lesson, hoping that Draco would leave Ron alone now. To his surprise he found Hermione waiting for him when he got to the class.

 

“What are you doing here?” he whispered as he sat down in the seat that Hermione had saved for him.

 

“I’m taking this class, you know.”

 

“But didn’t you go to Divination with Ron …” Harry trailed off as Professor Vector called the class to order.

 

After Arithmancy, Harry and Hermione headed to their Transfiguration lesson. When he reached Professor McGonagall’s classroom, Harry realized that Hermione was no longer beside him. Puzzled he entered the classroom and sat down to wait. Just before the lesson started, Ron and Hermione came in, along with the other Gryffindors who were taking Divination. Ron looked worried and all the other students kept shooting furtive glances at him. Harry found Professor McGonagall’s transformation into a tabby cat quite interesting but Ron didn’t seem to be paying any attention.

 

Professor McGonagall commented on the lack of reaction to her transformation, and to Harry’s surprise Hermione raised her hand.

 

_ “Please, Professor, we’ve just had our first Divination class, and we were reading the tea leaves, and -” _

 

_ “Ah, of course,” said Professor McGonagall, suddenly frowning. “There’s no need to say any more, Miss Granger. Tell me, which of you will be dying this year?” _

 

_ Everyone stared at her. _

 

“Me,” said Ron. “Professor Trelawney said she saw a Grim in my tea leaves.”

 

“I see,” said Professor McGonagall. “Then you should know, Mr. Weasley, that Sibyll Trelawney has predicted the death of one student a year since she arrived at this school. None of them has died yet. Seeing death omens is her favorite way of greeting a new class. If it were not for the fact that I never speak ill of colleagues -”

 

McGonagall broke off and then went on more calmly, “Divination is one of the most imprecise branches of magic. I shall not conceal from you that I have very little patience with it. True Seers are very rare, and Professor Trelawney -”

 

She stopped again, and then said, in a very matter-of-fact tone, “You look in excellent health to me, Weasely, so you will excuse me if I don’t let you off homework today. I assure you that if you die, you need not hand it in.”

 

Hermione laughed but Ron still looked worried. After Transfiguration, the three friends headed down to lunch.

 

_ “Ron, cheer up,” said Hermione, pushing a dish of stew towards him. “You heard what Professor McGonagall said.” _

 

_ Ron spooned stew onto his plate and picked up his fork but didn’t start. _

 

“It’s not just what Trelawney said. I think I saw a big, black dog at the train station in Hogsmeade last night. It was only for a moment and I just thought it was a stray but what if it wasn't. What if it was a Grim.”

 

Harry dropped his fork and stared at Ron. Ron and Hermione were too involved in their own debate to notice his reaction.

 

“I’m sure it was just a stray,” said Hermione calmly.

 

Ron looked at Hermione as though she had gone mad.

 

“Hermione if I saw a Grim, that’s - that’s bad. My - my uncle Bilius saw one and - and he died twenty-four hours later! I’m going to die and you don’t care!”

 

“That was just a coincidence,” said Hermione airily. “You’ll be fine.”

 

“Ron,” Harry said suddenly, “are you sure that you saw a large black dog in Hogsmeade last night?”

 

“Yes,” said Ron puzzled. “I’m sure.”

 

“We’ve got to go see Professor Lupin right away and let him know!” Harry consulted the Marauders Map that he had pulled out of his pocket. “It looks like he’s in his office right now. Come on!”

 

Hauling Ron out of his seat, Harry left the Great Hall followed by a puzzled Hermione.

 

“Why is it so important that you tell Professor Lupin about Ron seeing a black dog?” Hermione asked as they hurried towards Lupin’s office. “Don’t tell me that you think that it was a Grim, too? I’m sure it was just a stray dog.”

 

“What? Of course it wasn’t a Grim,” responded Harry. “But I don’t think it was just a stray dog either.”

 

At that point they reached their destination. Professor Lupin looked up from the papers he was working on in surprise as Harry burst into his office, still dragging Ron.

 

“Moony!” exclaimed Harry as soon as he was inside the room. “Ron saw Sirius Black at the Hogsmeade station last night!”

 

“No I didn’t, Harry,” protested Ron. “I told you that I saw a Grim! It was a bloody big, black dog, just like Uncle Bilius saw before he died!”

 

“Why don’t you take a seat, Ron,” said Lupin in a quiet voice that contrasted oddly with the intent look that he turned on the boy. “Now, please tell me exactly what it is that you saw last night,” he continued as Ron sat down.

 

“Well, when we were heading to the carriages, I had the oddest feeling, like someone was staring at me you know. And then I caught sight of this enormous black dog out of the corner of my eye as I was getting into the carriage, and I swear it was staring right at me, but when I got a good look at it from the carriage it was looking towards the train station. I barely got a glimpse of it and then it was just gone, like it had disappeared into thin air, but it was definitely a big black dog.” Ron told his story, glad that Lupin seemed to be taking him seriously. “Do you think that it was a Grim? Professor Trelawney saw a Grim in my tea leaves today and then I remembered that dog and I’m sure that’s what it was! Seeing a Grim is a seriously black omen!”

 

“No, Ron, I don’t think that you saw a Grim,” Lupin said gently, seeing how pale the red-head was looking. “And I wouldn’t worry about what Trelawney saw in your tea leaves, she isn’t exactly known for her accurate predictions. I’m afraid Harry is right, the dog that you saw last night must be Sirius Black.”

 

Hermione gasped. “You mean that he is a Animagus, but wouldn’t the Ministry know if he was one? I mean you have to be registered don’t you?”

 

“You are supposed to register, but we Marauders figured out how to do it in our fifth year. That’s where our nicknames came from, James’ Animagus form was a stag, Peter’s was a rat, and Sirius’ is a large, black dog.”

 

“Prongs, Wormtail and Padfoot, that makes sense, but why Moony? What’s your Animagus form then?” asked Ron.

 

“I don’t have one. Calling me Moony was just James’ little joke. Do you have the Map with you Harry? If Sirius is here, then maybe we can find him on it.”

 

Harry pulled out the Marauders Map and handed it to Moony. After searching the map carefully, Remus cleared it and handed it back to Harry.

 

“He must be outside the bounds of the map. I’ll tell Severus about the sighting and see if he has any ideas about how to find the traitor. I’m glad to see that you’re keeping the Map with you, Harry. Do you have your Cloak as well?” Harry nodded and Remus went on. “Good. Don’t forget to keep an eye on the Map. Now you three had better go get some lunch while you still have time.”

 

Harry, Ron and Hermione hurried off. They had just enough time to grab a few sandwiches from the Great Hall before they had to head outside for their first Care of Magical Creatures lesson. As they walked across the lawns towards Hagrid’s hut, Harry spotted Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle ahead of them. He stopped Ron before they reached the other students gathering for the lesson.

 

“Ron, please don’t get upset if Draco makes fun of me. It doesn’t really bother me and I don’t want you to get in trouble because of him.”

 

After getting Ron to promise not to get upset at Draco if he was still going on about Harry fainting on the train, they joined the rest of the class. Once everyone was there Hagrid led them off to an empty paddock at the edge of the forest.

 

After Hagrid explained to the class how to open their books, it turned out that you had to stroke them to get them to lay quiet and open, he headed off to get the magical creatures for his first lesson. Draco had been quite snarky about the books and while Hagrid was gone he made it quite clear that he thought the gameskeeper was unfit to teach.

 

_ “God, this place is going to the dogs,” said Malfoy loudly. “That oaf teaching classes, my father’ll have a fit when I tell him -” _

 

“Hagrid knows a lot about Magical Creatures, Draco and I’m sure he’ll be a good teacher. Give him a chance before you go complaining to your father about him,” Harry said.

 

Before Draco could respond to that, their attention was drawn to Hagrid’s return with a small herd of hippogriffs by Lavender Brown’s squeal of delight. As Hagrid explained the danger of insulting a hippogriff, Harry noticed that Draco and his friends weren’t listening. Once Hagrid had told them how to approach a hippogriff, Harry volunteered to go first.

 

Harry bowed to the hippogriff, Buckbeak, as Hagrid had instructed and just as Hagrid grew worried and told Harry to back away Buckbeak bowed back. Harry patted the hippogriff on the beak at Hagrid’s urging and most of the class broke into applause. Then Hagrid suggested that Harry try to ride the hippogriff. He wasn’t really sure about it but he wanted the lesson to be a success so he carefully climbed onto Buckbeak’s back and the hippogriff took off. Harry safely made it back down to the ground after a short flight but he decided that he much preferred his broom.

 

Harry’s success convinced the rest of the class to give it a go and soon people were bowing to hippogriffs all over the paddock. Harry watched Ron and Hermione practice on a chestnut hippogriff while Draco, Crabbe and Goyle approached Buckbeak.

 

_ “This is very easy,” Malfoy drawled, loud enough for Harry to hear him. “I knew it must have been, if Potter could do it. … I bet you’re not dangerous at all, are you?” he said to the hippogriff. “Are you, you great ugly brute?” _

 

Buckbeak struck Draco in the arm before Hagrid was able to stop him. Draco started yelling that he was dying as Hagrid wrestled Buckbeak back into his collar. Once a worried Hagrid had restrained the hippogriff again, he picked up Draco and ran with him to the castle. The class slowly followed them, the Slytherins shouting about Hagrid as they went while the Gryffindors tried to defend him.

 

_ They all climbed the stone steps into the deserted entrance hall. _

 

_ “I’m going to see if he’s okay!” said Pansy. _

 

“I’m coming with you,” said Harry, following her as she ran up the marble staircase.

 

At the top of the stairs Pansy snapped at Harry, “What are you doing here?”

 

“The same thing you are. I want to see how Draco is doing? That was a pretty nasty cut.” Harry replied as the two students continued towards the hospital wing.

 

“Why do you care? He’s in Slytherin and you’re a Gryffindork.”

 

“That doesn’t mean I can’t care how he’s doing when he gets hurt.”

 

“You’re just worried about what’s going to happen to Hagrid,” Pansy sneered. “Pretending to be concerned about Draco isn’t going to save that oaf from being fired for this!”

 

“I hope Hagrid doesn’t get fired but that’s not why I’m worried about Draco,” Harry said in frustration as he entered the hospital wing. “And I’m not pretending to be concerned about him. I really do care about what happens to Draco Malfoy!”

 

Harry stopped short as he realized that Draco was right there, sitting in one of the hospital beds, his arm covered in bandages. Pansy pushed past the Gryffindor and ran over to Draco, fussing over him as he complained about the pain in his arm. Madam Pomfrey was frowning as she finished applying the bandages.

 

“There is no need to make so much fuss, Mr. Malfoy. The dittany I applied has stopped the bleeding and if you take the potions I give you, you should be completely healed by morning. They will help with the pain as well.” The medi-witch handed Draco two potions and made sure he drank them before walking away muttering about dangerous beasts and reckless students.

 

After the witch left Draco frowned at Harry. “What are you doing here, Potter?”

 

“I just wanted to see how you are doing. Why is that so hard to believe?” Harry snapped, still feeling frustrated from Pansy’s scepticism.

 

“Because we’re not friends, Potter, in case you haven’t noticed, and we’re never going to be friends. Gryffindors and Slytherins don’t mix.”

 

“Why should an arbitrary house sorting determine who we can be friends with.”

 

“It’s hardly arbitrary, the Sorting Hat sorts us according to specific criteria and Gryffindors and Slytherins are just too different to get along.”

 

“Then why did the Sorting Hat want to put me in Slytherin if Gryffindors and Slytherins are so different. If I fit the criteria for both houses they can’t be that different.”

 

Draco and Pansy gaped at Harry. “The Sorting Hat wanted to put  _ you _ in Slytherin?” Draco exclaimed.

 

“That’s right. It only put me in Gryffindor because I didn’t want to be in Slytherin.” Noticing the offended look on Draco’s face, Harry thought quickly, “I had already met Snape by then, you know he took me to get my school supplies, and it was pretty obvious that he hated me. I didn’t really want to have him as my Head of House, otherwise I would have been fine with being in Slytherin. As it was, I was pretty glad that I wasn’t after our first potions class. Anyways, I’m glad to see that Madam Pomfrey fixed you up. I’m sure you’ll be in good shape soon. I’ll see you later, Draco.” Harry headed back to Gryffindor Tower, leaving the two Slytherins to absorb the revelation he had dropped on them.

 

After Hagrid didn’t show up in the Great Hall for dinner, Harry agreed to go visit him with Ron and Hermione, after checking the Marauders Map to make sure that Sirius Black wasn’t lurking anywhere along the way to Hagrid’s hut. The trio found Hagrid quite drunk and convinced that he was going to be fired from teaching. They spent some time comforting him and assuring him that they would back him up if there was an inquiry into the incident. Hermione then took away his tankard since he had clearly had too much to drink already. The visit came to an abrupt halt when Hagrid sobered himself up and remembered about the danger Harry was in. The groundskeeper scolded them all soundly for risking Harry’s life coming to see him and escorted them back to the castle, not giving Harry a chance to explain the precautions he had taken to stay safe.


	4. The Boggart

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Draco continues to be annoying and the Gryffindor third years face a boggart in Defense Against the Dark Arts.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Italics are direct quotes from the books.

Thursday morning was double potions with the Slytherins. Halfway through class Draco swaggered into the classroom with his right arm still covered in bandages. Harry rolled his eyes as Pansy Parkinson simpered at Draco, who was obviously enjoying the attention, pretending that his arm still hurt. Draco set up his cauldron next to Harry and Ron so that he was preparing his ingredients at their table. Harry hoped that maybe Draco was starting to warm up to him but it turned out it was just another attempt to annoy them.

 

_ “Sir,” Malfoy called, “sir, I’ll need help cutting up these daisy roots, because of my arm -” _

 

_ “Weasley, cut up Malfoy’s roots for him,” said Snape without looking up. _

 

_ Ron went brick red. _

 

_ “There’s nothing wrong with your arm,” he hissed at Malfoy. _

 

“I’ll do it Ron,” said Harry, pulling Draco’s roots towards him and quickly cutting them into nice, equal pieces and giving them back to the other boy. “There you go. I suppose you need some help with your shrivelfig as well.”

 

Harry carefully skinned Draco’s shrivelfig for him and then went back to his own potion, which was almost finished. Draco scowled at the ingredient that Harry had prepared for him. He wanted to find some fault with them but he knew that he wouldn’t. Harry was the fastest student in the class and the most careful, any ingredients he prepared were done correctly. Draco and Hermione still tended to get better marks in the class but the Slytherin knew that was mostly because Harry wasn’t really trying. After glaring at his ingredients for a moment Draco smiled and brought up a subject that he was sure would annoy Ron and Harry.

 

_ “Seen your pal Hagrid lately?” he asked them quietly. _

 

_ “None of your business,” said Ron jerkily, without looking up. _

 

That was more like it, Draco thought. Weasley was so easy to wind up.

 

_ “I’m afraid he won’t be a teacher much longer,” said Malfoy in a tone of mock sorrow. “Father’s not very happy about my injury -” _

 

_ “Keep talking, Malfoy and I’ll give you a real injury,” snarled Ron. _

 

“Ron,” said Harry warningly.

 

_ “- he’s complained to the school governors. And to the Ministry of Magic. Father’s got a lot of influence, you know. And a lasting injury like this” - he gave a huge, fake sigh - “who knows if my arm’ll ever be the same again?” _

 

_ “So that’s why you’re putting it on,” said Harry. “To try to get Hagrid fired.” _

 

_ “Well,” said Malfoy, lowering his voice to a whisper, “partly, Potter. But there are other benefits too. Weasley slice my caterpillars for me.” _

 

Harry sliced Draco’s caterpillars, instead of Ron, as he tried to think of a way to deal with Draco. Maybe his dad would be able to help. Then his attention was drawn to Snape’s inspection of Neville’s potion.

 

_ “Orange, Longbottom,” said Snape, ladling some up and allowing it to splash back into the cauldron, so that everyone could see. “Orange. Tell me, boy, does anything penetrate that thick skull of your? Didn’t you hear me say, quite clearly, that only one rat spleen was needed? Didn’t I state plainly that a dash of leech juice would suffice? What do I have to do to make you understand, Longbottom?” _

 

Harry frowned, Neville had a tendency to fall apart during class since Professor Snape made him nervous, but he had improved a lot over the previous year with regular tutoring. Obviously they needed to start up their tutoring sessions again.

 

“Remember, what we talked about last year, Neville,” Harry said to his friend. “Take a deep breath and focus on the potion. I know that you know how to fix this. Just think about what you need to do to counteract the extra rat spleen and leech juice and do it.”

 

Neville took a deep breath and returned to his potion with a look of determination on his face, as Snape’s attention turned to Harry.

 

“I don’t remember asking you for your assistance, Potter,” said Snape coldly.

 

“You didn’t need to, Professor,” said Harry. “It was obvious that you needed some help and I’m happy to be of assistance.”

 

Snape glared at Harry as the young wizard went back to preparing Draco’s ingredients for him.

 

“Five points from Gryffindor for your insolence, Potter,” he hissed.

 

_ “Hey, Harry,” said Seamus Finnigan, leaning over to borrow Harry’s brass scales, “have you heard? Daily Prophet this morning - they reckon Sirius Black’s been sighted.” _

 

“Where?” asked Harry in surprise, he was sure that Sirius would remain in his Animagus form to escape detection. On the other side of the table, Draco looked up, listening closely.

 

_ “Not too far from here,” said Seamus, who looked excited. “It was a Muggle who saw him. ‘Course she didn’t really understand. The Muggle’s think he’s just an ordinary criminal, don’t they? So she phoned the telephone hotline. By the time the Ministry of Magic got there, he was gone.” _

 

“Not too far from here …” Ron repeated looking at Harry, remembering the black dog he had seen and Harry and Lupin’s insistence that it was Sirius Black. Harry shrugged, they knew that Black was in Hogsmeade just a few days ago so this sighting didn’t make much difference, if it was really Black that the Muggle had seen.

 

Draco’s eyes shone malevolently, fixed on Harry. He leaned across the table.

 

_ “Thinking of trying to catch Black single-handed, Potter?” _

 

“Not really, Draco. I’m planning to get some help with it.” Harry said offhandedly.

 

Draco’s smiled meanly,  _ “Of course if it was me,” he said quietly, “I’d have done something before now. I wouldn’t be staying in school like a good boy, I’d be out there looking for him.” _

 

“What makes you think I’m not planning on doing something? I don’t need to be out there looking for him, after all he’s the one looking for me, but when he finds me he’ll get more than he bargained for.”

 

Draco’s jaw dropped as he looked at Harry. “You’re mad, Potter,” he said, reluctantly impressed.

 

“Not mad, just determined to get some answers before the dementors take away my only chance to confront my parent’s betrayer.”

 

Before Draco could respond to that, Snape called, _ “You should have finished adding your ingredients by now; this potion needs to stew before it can be drunk, so clear away while it simmers.” _

 

Harry glanced over at Neville’s potion as he helped Ron clean up their table. It looked like Neville had managed to correct his mistakes with his potion, at least it was the right shade of green now. As the end of the lesson drew near, Snape examined the potion and pronounced it acceptable to Neville’s relief.

 

“Class dismissed. Potter stay here.” Snape snapped.

 

After the rest of the class had left Severus turned to Harry.

 

“I heard what you said to Draco. Do you really think that it was a good idea to talk about your plans to confront Black so openly?”

 

“No, I know that wasn’t a good idea, but he was being so annoying. I just wanted to say something to get him to shut up about it.”

 

“You know better than to let yourself be goaded into letting sensitive information slip. What if class hadn’t ended when it did and Draco started asking questions about who you had helping you? What would you have told him then?”

 

“Sorry, Dad. I wasn’t thinking.”

 

“We definitely need to continue your Occlumency lessons through the school year. Mastering Occlumency will help you to resist similar temptations in the future. Fortunately, with Moony here I don’t think that it will be difficult to arrange something without arousing any suspicions. I will talk to Moony about it and then he will let you know what we figure out. Now am I right in guessing that you were tutoring Longbottom in Potions last year?”

 

Harry nodded, relieved at the change in subject.

 

“Given his improvement over the course of the year, you must have been doing practical lessons, not just theory. Where did you do your brewing?”

 

“In Moaning Myrtle’s bathroom. It was out of order all year so it was the perfect place.”

 

“The bathroom where the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets was located? Well, at least that is a well ventilated room, but I don’t like you brewing potions without supervision.”

 

“I always had Hermione or Ron there just in case something went wrong.”

 

“I meant adult supervision.” Snape thought for a moment. “I suppose the best way to deal with this is to officially give you the job of being Neville’s tutor. I will expect both of you to be here for Neville’s remedial potions lesson Tuesday evening at 7. Consider it your punishment for speaking out of turn during class. Now you had better go get to lunch.”

 

After lunch they had Defense Against the Dark Arts. Professor Lupin wasn’t there when they arrived so the class found seats and took out their books, quills and parchment while they waited. When Lupin arrived he placed his briefcase on the teacher’s desk and addressed the class.

 

_ “Good afternoon,” he said. “Would you please put all your books back in your bags. Today’s will be a practical lesson. You will need only your wands.” _

 

When the class was done putting away their books, Lavender Brown raised her hand.

 

“Professor Lupin, are you really Professor Snape’s boyfriend?” she asked, not waiting to be called on.

 

The class grew still as everyone waited for the answer to Lavender’s question. Lupin calmly looked back at the expectant faces of the students, his gaze lingering on Harry.

 

“I wonder who has been spreading rumours about his professor’s personal lives,” he said. Harry gave an unrepentant shrug and Lupin turned back to Lavender. “To answer your question, Lavender, Professor Snape and I have been partners for over a decade now.” Seeing that everyone was ready Professor Lupin continued. “Right then. If you’d follow me.”

 

The class followed their professor out of the classroom. After a brief encounter with Peeves on the way they arrived at the staffroom door.

 

_ “Inside, please,” said Professor Lupin, opening it and standing back. _

 

Professor Snape was the only occupant of the staffroom when they entered it. Snape watched the class file in, followed by Lupin. As Lupin made to close the door behind him, Snape said, “Leave it open, Remus. I’d rather not witness this.”

 

He got to his feet and strode past the class. When he reached Lupin, the DADA professor stopped him and said something to him in a low voice. Snape glanced at Harry as he responded quietly. Then Lupin said something which caused Professor Snape to laugh, shocking most of the waiting students. With a final quiet remark, Snape left the room and a grinning Lupin turned back to his class.

 

“Now, then,” said Professor Lupin, beckoning the class towards the end of the room where an old wardrobe stood. As Lupin stood next to the wardrobe it gave a sudden wobble, banging off the wall.

 

“Nothing to worry about,” said Professor Lupin when a few people jumped backwards in alarm.  _ “There’s a boggart in there. Boggarts like dark, enclosed spaces. Wardrobes, the gap beneath beds, the cupboards under sinks - I’ve even met one that had lodged itself in a grandfather clock. This one moved in yesterday afternoon, and I asked the headmaster if the staff would leave it to give my third years some practice. So, the first question we must ask ourselves is, what is a boggart?” _

 

Of course Hermione had the answer to the professor’s question. Professor Lupin continued to explain about the boggart and how to defeat it. The class practised the Riddikulus charm and then Lupin called on Neville to be the first to confront the boggart.

 

_ “Right, Neville,” said Professor Lupin. “First things first: what would you say is the thing that frightens you most in the world?” _

 

_ Neville’s lips moved, but no noise came out. _

 

_ “Didn’t catch that, Neville, sorry,” said Professor Lupin cheerfully. _

 

_ Neville looked around rather wildly, as though begging someone to help him, then said, in barely more than a whisper, “Professor Snape.” _

 

Professor Lupin looked taken aback but then he became thoughtful.

 

“Professor Snape … hmmm … I think that you need to see the more human side of Sev. Neville, I want you to picture Professor Snape in baby blue Boy-Who-Lived pajamas, bleary eyed from just having woken up and with major bed head.”

 

“Don’t forget the fuzzy wolf slippers,” interjected Harry with a grin.

 

“Right, Sev has a pair of fuzzy wolf slippers as well. Can you picture that very clearly, Neville? Can you see it in your minds eye?”

 

“Yes,” said Neville uncertainly.

 

“When the boggart bursts out of this wardrobe, Neville, and sees you, it will assume the form of Professor Snape,” said Lupin. “And you will raise your wand - thus - and cry ‘Riddikulus’ - and concentrate hard on a bleary eyed, just having woken up Snape. If all goes well, Professor Boggart Snape will be forced into that form.”

 

Lupin turned back to the rest of the class. “If Neville is successful, the boggart is likely to shift his attention to each of us in turn, I would like all of you to take a moment now to think of the thing that scares you the most, and imagine how you might force it to look comical. …”

 

Professor Lupin gave them time to think about this before he had them back away from the wardrobe and Neville. On the count of three Professor Lupin used his wand to open the wardrobe and Professor Snape stepped out. Neville backed away, his wand up, mouthing wordlessly. Snape was bearing down on him, reaching inside his robes.

 

“R - r - riddikulus!” squeaked Neville.

 

There was a noise like a whip crack and Snape stumbled. He was wearing baby blue pajamas covered in a pattern of little black lightning bolts, with fuzzy slippers on his feet. The slippers howled with his every step. There was a roar of laughter and the boggart paused confused. Professor Lupin shouted, “Parvati! Forward!”

 

One after another the students successfully faced the boggart, until it was Harry’s turn. Harry raised his wand, ready, but -

 

_ “Here!” shouted Professor Lupin suddenly, hurrying forward. _

 

_ Crack! _

 

_ A silvery-white orb hung in the air in front of Lupin, who said, “Riddikulus!” almost lazily. _

 

_ Crack! _

 

_ “Forward, Neville, and finish him off!” said Lupin as the boggart landed on the floor as a cockroach. Crack! Snape was back. This time Neville charged forward looking determined. _

 

“Riddikulus!” he shouted and they had a split second view of early-morning Snape before Neville let out a great “Ha!” of laughter, and the boggart was gone.

 

Professor Lupin assigned five points to every person who had faced the boggart, which gave Neville ten because he had faced it twice, and five to Hermione for answering his question at the start of class. He then assigned homework and dismissed the class. As his classmates left the staffroom, talking excitedly about the lesson, Harry hung back.

 

“That was a brilliant lesson, Moony, but why didn’t you let me face the boggart?” Harry asked.

 

Lupin looked surprised. “I would have thought that was obvious, Harry. After what you have been through over the last two years, I assumed that your boggart would take on a form that was far too frightening to expose your classmates to. I think it would have been unduly disturbing for Quirrelmort to have manifested in the staffroom, and I shudder to think of the effects a Basilisk appearing would have had on the children.”

 

“Oh,” said Harry. “I didn’t think of those things. I - I remembered those dementors.”

 

“I see,” said Lupin thoughtfully. “Well, well … I’m impressed. That suggest that what you fear most of all is - fear. Very wise, Harry.”

 

“Moony, ...” Harry faltered, “When the dementor was on the train … I heard - I heard Dad screaming, like when Quirrel used the Cruciatus curse on him ... then it changed to a woman screaming …”

 

Lupin pulled his distraught son into a hug. “No wonder you fainted,” he said grimly. “Get too near a dementor and every good feeling, every happy memory will be sucked out of you. Leaving you with nothing but the worst experiences of your life. And the worst that happened to you would be enough to make anyone faint.”

 

Harry clung to Moony for a while before he pulled away wiping his eyes. “I guess I’d better go get my bag and head back to the tower now. My friends are probably wondering where I am.” He laughed shakily. “It’s a good thing no one saw us. This probably wasn’t the best place for me to break down.”

 

“The other teachers know how close I was to your parents, Harry. I’m sure they would understand. You can come to me anytime.”

 

“I know. I’m glad you’re here, Moony.”

 

During supper in the Great Hall, Professor Lupin noticed that he and Professor Snape were getting a lot of attention from the students at the Gryffindor table. He nudged Severus and pointed this out.

 

“I suppose they’re looking for evidence that we’re a couple,” said Severus dryly.

 

“I would hate to disappoint them, Sevvie darling,” Remus murmured with a smile, leaning in closer to his friend.

 

Severus raised an eyebrow. “What did you have in mind?” Severus asked apprehensively.

 

“Nothing too outrageous, I promise,” Remus assured him, taking Severus’ hand in his and lifting it to his lips. “At least not today.”

 

That evening, while Remus and Severus sat together in their quarters, Remus brought up the third year Gryffindor’s lesson with the boggart. More precisely he brought up the form that the boggart took for Neville.

 

“You were his boggart, Sev, I find that very disturbing,” Moony said.

 

“You know that I can’t be seen being kind to either Harry or Neville, Moony. Harry might be the chosen one but the prophecy could have just as easily referred to Neville and there’s always the chance that the Dark Lord might decide to go after both of them when he returns.” Severus responded testily.

 

“I understand that, but you don’t need to be cruel either. I’ve heard about what you said to him in today’s class.”

 

“I know I shouldn’t have said what I did. I’m not a very good teacher, Moony. I just don’t have the patience for those students who don’t seem to be capable of remembering the simplest of instructions. I have Harry tutoring Neville now and I will endeavour to simply ignore him during class. Hopefully, Granger will ensure that he doesn’t blow us all up. ”

 

“I’m glad that you realized that how you spoke to Neville was wrong but I’m not the one that needs to hear it, Sev. Neville deserves an apology for the way you have treated him.”

 

“I will consider it,” Severus responded shortly and then he changed the topic to how to arrange for Harry’s Occlumency lessons.


	5. Remedial Potions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Harry starts tutoring Neville in potions again. The first full moon of the school year arrives and Quidditch practise starts up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Italics are direct quotes from the books.

Neville wasn’t very happy to learn about Snape’s decision to supervise his potion tutoring sessions with Harry. Especially after Thursday’s Defense class.

 

“Do you think Snape’s heard about my boggart yet? I’ll bet he’s really mad about it.” Neville worried as he and Harry headed to the dungeon Tuesday evening.

 

“Come on, Neville, it’s going to be ok. Professor Snape didn’t do anything to you during yesterday’s class, after all.”

 

“He was probably waiting for tonight to get me. I mean we’re his two least favorite students and it’s just going to be the three of us there. Who knows what he will do to us,” Neville said gloomily. “I don’t know how you can be so calm about this, Snape hates you more than anyone.”

 

Harry stopped outside of the potions classroom and turned to his friend. “Neville calm down. I’ve had detention alone with Snape loads of times and I’m still in one piece. He figured out that we’ve been doing brewing unsupervised and he wants to keep an eye on us, that’s all. He may hate me but he doesn’t want us blowing ourselves up.”

 

Harry pushed open the door to the classroom and pulled Neville inside. Professor Snape didn’t even look up from the papers he was marking. “I assume that you have some sort of plan for your tutoring session, Potter,” he said dryly as the two boys hesitated just inside the classroom.

 

“Yes, sir,” said Harry. “Come on, Neville let’s get set up.”

 

Snape continued to ignore them as Harry guided Neville through brewing the potion they had decided to work on. As they worked Harry did his best to keep his friend focused on the potion and off of the potions teacher. Gradually Neville began to relax a bit and was able to concentrate on the task at hand, although he never relaxed completely, it was obvious that Snape’s proximity was continuing to make him nervous.

 

After the boys had finished their potion and cleaned up the workspace, Snape abruptly stood up and strode over to the cauldron to inspect their final product.

 

“An acceptable result, Longbottom. Now if only you could perform as well in class. Although, I have been informed that your failings in my class are at least in part due to my teaching methods.” Snape stopped and looked sternly at the teens. “Longbottom, Potter, no word of this conversation is to be repeated to anyone else. Is that understood?” After Harry and Neville nodded, Snape took a deep breath and continued, stiffly. “Longbottom … Neville, I must apologize for how I spoke to you in Thursday’s class. It was wrong of me to insult you like that and I will endeavour to control my tongue better in the future.” Snape studied Neville for a moment and then sighed, “I am also sorry that I have given you reason to fear me. Please, accept my assurances that I would never harm you, even if my words have been harsh on occasion.”

 

Snape turned and left the room before Neville could recover from his astonishment.

 

“I can’t believe it. Harry, am I dreaming or did Snape just apologize to me?”

 

Harry grinned, “You’re not dreaming, Neville, Professor Snape really did apologize. I think Professor Lupin is having a good influence on him.” Harry’s grin dropped away and said seriously, “You’re not going to tell anyone about this, are you?”

 

Neville shook his head, “I won’t tell anyone. No one would believe me, anyways.”

 

After Professor Snape’s apology, Neville’s performance in Potions started to improve steadily, as he slowly began to accept that his professor’s caustic tongue would no longer be turned on him. Professor Snape still favoured the Slytherins and took points off of the other houses for little reason but he now attempted to curb his tongue when dealing with the students’ mistakes. He still sharpened his tongue on Harry at every opportunity, though, and Harry continued to respond in kind.

 

Harry was pleased to find that Defense Against Dark Arts had quickly become most people’s favorite class. Draco Malfoy and his gang of Slytherins were the only students who did not seem to like Professor Lupin. Draco was consistently disrespectful towards the Defense professor. As Lupin continued to coax Snape into behaving like they were a couple, Draco’s attitude towards him got steadily worse.

 

The more Harry heard about Divination from Ron and Hermione the happier he was that he had chosen to take Arithmancy instead. Professor Trelawney had moved from predicting Ron’s death to foreseeing disaster for someone close to him. Parvati Patil and Lavender Brown, who had taken to haunting Professor Trelawney’s tower room at lunchtimes, had obviously decided that Harry was the one that Trelawny was referring to in those predictions. They had taken to using hushed tones whenever they spoke to either Harry or Ron. Hermione was quite scathing about how imprecise Divination was, compared to Arithmancy. Harry and Ron had yet to figure out how she was able to attend both classes when they were held at the same time but she hadn’t missed a class yet.

 

Care of Magical Creatures had become rather boring and after the second lesson that consisted of learning how to look after flobberworms Harry decided that something needed to be done about Hagrid’s loss of confidence. That evening, Harry went to see Professor Lupin and asked if he would be willing to help the groundskeeper out in planning his lessons. Since Moony’s lessons involved studying Dark Creatures, Harry figured that there was enough similarity in the subjects to be useful. With Lupin’s help, Hagrid was able to plan lessons involving some of the less dangerous Magical Creatures in the curriculum, other than flobberworms, which were much more successful. As the term went on Lupin was also able to help Hagrid in planning how to introduce the students to more dangerous Magical Creatures safely. It wasn’t long before Care of Magical Creatures was an enjoyable class again. After all Hagrid knew a lot about the subject, he had just needed some help in figuring out how to best teach it.

 

September 30th brought the first full moon of the school year. Padfoot looked up at the moon peeping through the leaves of the trees towering above him and whined softly as he thought of Moony, remembering moonlit nights roaming through the forest as part of his small, odd pack.   
When he finally slipped into sleep his legs churned as he dreamed of running through the forest, accompanied by the wolf once more, the full moon shining down on them as they ran.

 

The next day Harry arrived at his Defense Against Dark Arts class the next day to find Professor Snape seated at the teacher’s desk instead of Professor Lupin. Snape glared at him as he entered the room and Harry smirked back.

 

“Is Professor Lupin ill?” he asked, trying not to let on that he had been expecting Moony to be absent that day.

 

“He says he is feeling too ill to teach today,” said Snape. “So I have agreed to take over his lessons until he is feeling better. Sit down, Potter, before I take points away from Gryffindor for excessive nosiness.”

 

As Harry sat, Snape turned to the class and said, “As I told Potter, I will be covering Professor Lupin’s classes for him until he is feeling better. I see from the notes that he left that you have already covered boggarts and kappas. I believe the next topic is Red Caps. Please turn to page 62.”

 

The class silently opened their textbooks and Snape started his lecture. To their surprise the Gryffindors discovered that Professor Snape was a much more bearable teacher without the Slytherins in the classroom. He was still strict and they weren’t about to push his forbearance but he refrained from his trademark cutting remarks and they made it to the end of class without Gryffindor losing any points.

 

At the start of October the Gryffindor Quidditch team started training sessions, three evenings a week. With Tuesday’s potions tutoring, the Occlumency lessons that Snape held in Lupin’s office on Thursdays and class assignments, this meant that Harry was extremely busy but the lure of winning the Quidditch cup for the second year in a row made the time spent feel worth it, even as the weather got colder and wetter and the nights darker.

 

Padfoot had spent the first month of the school term recovering from his long trek and establishing contact with a half-kneazle cat who knew where the rat was. He spent much of his time hiding inside the Forbidden Forest watching Hogwarts and the people in it. He was tempted to approach Hagrid, he knew that the grounds keeper would be willing to feed him, but he was afraid that Moony had told the others about his animagus form so he didn’t dare. Instead he hunted for food in the Forest, taking care to avoid the Dementors as much as possible. He sometimes saw the boy with the rat crossing the lawns, always accompanied by Prongs’ pup and the bushy haired girl, as he watched. At those times his determination to find that rat and make him pay for what he had done would fill Padfoot and make him restless, but he knew he had to bide his time. At least he knew where to find him when the time came, and maybe the cat would be able to come through before then. Then one day while he watched he saw Prongs’ pup walking to the Quidditch pitch with the rest of Gryffindor’s team and he was able to forget it all for a few hours.

 

Padfoot lurked just inside the Forbidden Forest and watched the Gryffindor Quidditch team swoop and glide over the pitch. His eyes fixed on the teams seeker, it took all his will power to keep from rushing to the pitch to bark his joy to the flyers overhead. Memories of watching another Quidditch player with messy black hair fly over that same pitch filled his head as he watched. Memories that he had thought lost forever to the Dementors. Padfoot stayed watching, quivering with the effort of remaining still, his tail wagging furiously, until the growing darkness finally brought an end to the practise and drove the players inside. Only then did he move, running farther into the Forest to gambol and bark, letting his joy out into the uncaring night.

 

Harry was so busy through the beginning of October that he had almost forgotten about the Hogsmeade weekends, until he came back from practise one evening to find the common room buzzing with excitement. Harry’s elation from the successful practise fled as he dropped into a chair beside Ron and Hermione. Ron tried to convince Harry to ask Professor McGonagall if he could go to Hogsmeade, to Hermione’s dismay, but Harry wasn’t about to try to do an end run around his dad’s wishes like that. Before Ron could get too persistence in his attempts to persuade Harry he was distracted by Crookshanks jumping into Hermione’s lab with a large spider in his mouth. Ron objected to the presence of the cat because he had Scabbers in his bag beside him.

 

With the topic of the Hogsmeade weekend dropped, Harry joined Ron and Hermione in working on their star charts for Astronomy class. Suddenly, Crookshanks, who had been staring unblinkingly at Ron’s bag ever since he had mentioned Scabbers being in it, pounced and began to tear ferociously at the bag. In Ron’s attempts to shake Crookshanks off of the bag, Scabbers came flying out of it. Soon Crookshanks was chasing a terrified Scabbers around the common room, until the rat was able to hide under an old chest of drawers. Hermione grabbed her cat and Ron hauled Scabbers out from under the furniture. Ron was furious with Hermione over the whole incident, blaming her for not keeping her cat away from his rat.

 

Ron was still angry with Hermione the next day. Hermione’s impatience with Lavender deciding that her receiving the news that her rabbit had died that morning, the sixteenth of October, had been predicted by Trelawney during their first divination class, didn’t help matters. In between his best friends fighting and everyone looking forward to visiting Hogsmeade, Harry wasn’t having a very good day. He understood why his dad and Moony weren’t about to let him go into Hogsmeade but that didn’t mean that he had to like it.


	6. Another Eventful Halloween

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Harry has another eventful Halloween. Dementors show up at the first Quidditch match of the season.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Italics are direct quotes from the books.

Harry woke up Halloween morning feeling down about missing out on the fun of the day but unwilling to show it. Especially since Ron was still trying to get him to ask McGonagall if she would let him go even without the permission form. At least Ron and Hermione had forgotten their fight over Crookshanks in their concern about Harry.

 

_ “We’ll bring you lots of sweets back from Honeydukes,” said Hermione, looking desperately sorry for him. _

 

_ “Yeah, loads,” said Ron. _

 

“Don’t worry about me,” said Harry. “I’m planning to hang around with Moony and the Professor today and I’ll see you at the feast tonight. I’m expecting you to tell me all about everything. Have a good time.”

 

Harry saw his friends off from the entrance hall and then headed to Moony’s office. His dad and Moony were there studying the grindylow that had just arrived for Lupin to use in his next lesson.

 

“Ah, Harry, there you are,” said Moony as Harry entered his office. “Would you care for some tea? Dobby!”

 

Dobby appeared and brought the three wizards their tea, grinning happily at Harry when he saw that he was there. Moony sat down in a chair that had been transfigured into a recliner with a sigh.

 

“I hope you’re not too disappointed about missing the Hogsmeade weekend. I would have made arrangements to take you but I just don’t have the energy today.”

 

“It’s ok, Moony, I’m happy to spend this time with you and Dad. I’m actually surprised you’re awake.  Last night must have been better than usual.”

 

Severus snorted. “He should be asleep. I could have taken delivery of the grindylow for him but he’s being stubborn.”

 

“It was my responsibility,” responded Moony. “Besides, I wanted to be here for Harry. It’s the least I could do since I couldn’t take him to Hogsmeade.”

 

“I don’t really mind, Moony,” said Harry. “I wanted to talk to you and Dad anyways. Have you heard anything more about Sirius Black?”

 

“Nothing,” Severus said, sounding frustrated. “There have been no sighting of either Black or a big black dog anywhere near Hogwarts in the past two months. Not since Ron saw him in Hogsmeade at the beginning of the term. If I didn’t know better I would think that the mutt had given up on his revenge and made himself scarce.”

 

“That’s probably my fault,” murmured Remus sleepily, his eyes closed as he leaned back in the recliner. “If he was at the train station he probably saw me get off of the train and he has no reason to believe that I didn’t tell everyone about his animagus form. He’s probably been hiding in the Forest but I’m sure that he will turn up. Sirius does not give up easily.”

 

Harry and Snape exchanged glances and silently waited for the Defense professor to fall asleep. They then quietly talked about lighter topics, leaving Moony to his sleep. He woke up again in time to wish Harry a happy Halloween before the teen left to go back to his common room to meet up with Ron and Hermione. After Harry left, Severus insisted on escorting Remus back to their quarters to make sure that he would continue to rest before heading to the evening’s feast.

 

Padfoot lurked at the edge of the Forbidden Forest that was closest to the castle, watching the last few students return from Hogsmeade as dusk drew in. He had already seen the boy with the rat return accompanied by the bushy haired girl, although Prongs’ cub wasn’t with them this time. Padfoot continued to wait as the sky grew darker and lights appeared in the windows of the school. He knew that everyone would be in the Great Hall soon, gathering for the Halloween Feast, and that would be his chance to get the rat. Finally it was time! Padfoot crept through one of the secret entrances that he knew of, ignored by the Dementor guarding it in his animagus form. When he reached the end of the tunnel to the castle he transformed back into his wizard form with a shudder. 

Sirius silently walked through the halls of the castle, the knife he that he had managed to steal after his escape from Azkaban clutched in his hand. Soon he would be in the Gryffindor dorms and then he would have that rat! After twelve years he would finally be able to commit the crime he had been imprisoned for and James and Lily would be avenged! He would let nothing stand in his way.

 

Harry enjoyed the Halloween Feast. The decorations were amazing and the food was delicious. The entertainment provided by the ghosts at the end of the feast was the perfect cap to the evening. The only shadow on Harry’s happiness was the knowledge that Moony wasn’t well enough to attend the feast.

 

When the Gryffindor students got back to the entrance to their tower, that good mood quickly vanished. Someone had attacked the portrait of the Fat Lady that guarded the entrance to the Gryffindor common room. Dumbledore soon came, followed by both McGonagall and Snape. While Dumbledore was asking Professor McGonagall to search for the Fat Lady who was no longer in her painting, Peeves arrived with some information. He had seen the Fat Lady in a painting on the fourth floor and had found out who had attacked her. Sirius Black had tried to get into the common room and had lost his temper when the Fat Lady wouldn’t let him in without the password.

 

Dumbledore sent all the Gryffindors back to the Great Hall to spend the night. They were joined there by the students from the other three houses about ten minutes later. Professor Dumbledore gave instruction for the prefects to guard the entrances to the hall while the teachers searched the castle. Before he left he used his magic to move the table against the walls and conjured hundreds of purple sleeping bags for the students use.

 

As soon as the teachers had left, the hall erupted into excited talking as the Gryffindors told the rest of the school what had happened. As they settled into the sleeping bags the students speculated about how Black could have gotten into the castle. Harry remembered the secret tunnels into the castle shown on the Marauders Map and Black’s animagus abilities, and figured that he knew how the escaped prisoner had made his way into the castle, but he didn’t say anything. 

 

Hidden deep in the Forbidden Forest Padfoot paced, growling quietly. He had been so close to getting the rat only to be stopped by a stubborn portrait! He needed to find a way to get the password! Maybe the kneazle-cat could help him with that. Gradually his pacing slowed and he settled down to sleep, determined to continue to watch and wait for another chance at the rat.

 

The Gryffindors were able to get into the tower by the morning. Sir Cadogan, a portrait of an excitable knight had replaced the Fat Lady’s ripped canvas. Nobody was very happy about this. Sir Cadogan kept challenging people to duels and spent the rest of his time coming up with ridiculously complicated passwords, which he changed at least twice a day. Unfortunately, none of the other portraits were willing to take the job after what had happened to the Fat Lady. Sir Cadogan was the only one brave enough, or insane enough, to volunteer.

 

Harry had other worries as well. The teachers were making excuses to walk with him in the corridors and Percy was tailing him everywhere. The close watch was starting to drive him crazy. Professor McGonagall called him into her office to tell him about Sirius Black. She was rather taken aback to find out that he already knew about it, although he only told her about the conversation he had overheard between Mr. and Mrs. Weasley. Because of Black’s invasion of the castle, Professor McGonagall was unsure about letting Harry continue to practice with the Quidditch team but it was easy for Harry to convince her that he needed to prepare for the upcoming match. In the end McGonagall decided to get Madam Hooch to supervise their training sessions.

 

Practise became harder as the week wore on and the weather worsened steadily but the Gryffindor team trained harder than ever. Then at the last practise before the match Oliver Wood told the team that their opponent had been changed. Instead of going up against Slytherin they would be playing Hufflepuff because Draco was still claiming to have an injured arm. Harry was sure that Draco’s arm couldn’t still be injured because of an incident from more than two months ago, but there was nothing they could do about it now.

 

Oliver Wood was really upset by the change. On the day before the match he kept coming up to Harry between classes to give him tips. The third time he did this he talked for long enough to make Harry late for class. Luckily it was his Defense Against the Dark Arts class and Professor Lupin wasn’t likely to take points for Harry being late.

 

Harry was woken up extremely early the next morning by Peeves the poltergeist blowing in his ear. He tried to get back to sleep when he realized that it was only half past four but it was no use. When he finally gave up on sleep and left the dorm he had to grab Crookshanks by the tail to prevent the cat from sneaking in. In fact Harry had to stop the cat from sneaking up the stairs to the boys dorms more than once during the hours before dawn. He was beginning to think that Ron was right and Crookshanks was after Scabbers in particular.

 

Eventually it was late enough for breakfast, and Harry headed down to the Great Hall. A large bowl of porridge revived him, and soon he was joined by the rest of the team. Despite the storm raging outside most of the school still showed up to watch the match as usual. The wind was so strong that it was impossible to walk straight in it. The players staggered sideways as they walked out onto the field from the lockers. The rain poured down and thunder blocked out the sound of the crowds cheers as they mounted their brooms.

 

The game started, but Harry soon found that he was unable to see, thanks to the heavy rain pelting his glasses. He came close to being unseated by a Bludger twice, since he couldn’t see them coming, and he had no chance of spotting the Snitch. After a while, Wood called for a time out and Hermione came to Harry’s rescue with a spell to make his glasses repel water. When the team took to the air again, Harry was still numb with cold and wetter than he had ever been in his life but at least now he could see to look for the Snitch.

 

Harry was flying around the pitch, looking for the Snitch when a flash of lightning illuminated the stands and distracted Harry completely. In the stands was the silhouette of an enormous shaggy black dog, clearly visible against the sky, in the topmost, empty row of seats. Harry’s hands slipped on his broom and his Nimbus dropped. When Harry had recovered, from his brooms sudden drop, and looked towards the stands again, the dog was gone. Harry had no time to think about what he had seen, Wood was calling for his attention. Cedric Diggory, Hufflepuffs seeker, had spotted the Snitch.

 

Harry threw himself flat against his broom handle and zoomed towards the Snitch but before he could reach it an eerie silence fell across the stadium.

 

In the stands, Severus and Remus were huddled together watching the match. They had noticed that something had attracted Harry’s attention in the stands but they hadn’t seen anything when they looked. Shortly after Harry started to fly at the Snitch, Severus began to shake. With a horrified expression he grabbed Moony’s arm and pointed down at the ground below the pitch, at least a hundred dementors were standing there, looking up at the players flying overhead.

 

Moony gasped, “Harry! The dementors made him faint on the train! He’s going to fall off of his broom!”

 

Both men pulled out their wands to cast cushioning charms below Harry as he started to fall. At the same time Professor Dumbledore ran onto the field and slowed Harry’s fall, before casting the Patronus charm to drive the dementors away. The headmaster was clearly furious that the dementors had come onto the school grounds. After driving away the dementors, Dumbledore conjured a stretcher and took Harry to the hospital wing.

 

Harry woke in the hospital wing, amazingly undamaged from his fall. His teammates were gathered around him when he opened his eyes, except for Wood. Hermione and Ron were also there, along with Professor Lupin. When Harry asked about what had happened he was almost more upset to learn that Cedric Diggory had managed to catch the Snitch and win the game for Hufflepuff than by the idea that he had come close to death again. The rest of the team reassured him that they still had a shot at the cup before Madam Pomfrey chased them away. Hermione and Ron stayed with Harry and told him how Dumbledore had chased away the dementors. They also broke the news that Harry’s broom had been blown into the Whomping Willow and was destroyed. Harry was devastated by the news even though Moony reassured him that they would get him a new broom.

 

It wasn’t until the next morning that Harry remembered about seeing a large black dog in the stand during the game. After the Gryffindor team had visited and left again, Harry found himself alone with Ron and Hermione. He quickly told them about what he had seen and asked them if they could get Moony for him. Soon Moony was there listening to Harry’s story.

 

“That certainly sounds like Sirius,” Moony said with a frown. “I’m surprised that he was willing to take the chance on revealing himself so soon after his attempt to get access to the Gryffindor tower. Although, Sirius always was too impulsive for his own good. It would be just like him to risk being recaptured and returned to Azkaban for the sake of a Quidditch game. I suppose he counted on the storm to conceal his presence.”

 

In the Forest, well away from any dementors, Crookshank brought Sirius the writing materials he had sent the cat for. Quickly Sirius wrote an order to purchase a Firebolt in Harry’s name with instructions for the payment to come out of his vaults. He had seen what had happened to Harry’s Nimbus and he wanted to replace it with the best broom money could buy. He figured he owed his godson for thirteen years of missed birthday and Christmas presents. After sending Crookshanks off to the Owl Office, Sirius transformed back into Padfoot and set off to hunt up his next meal.


	7. Patronus Lessons

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Harry fails to get along with Draco. Moony starts teaching him the Patronus Charm and the second Hogwarts weekend happens.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> All italics are direct quotes from the books.

Monday morning, Madam Pomfrey released Harry from the hospital wing. When Harry saw Draco he found that the Slytherin had finally taken off his bandages, and was celebrating having the full use of both arms again by doing spirited imitations of Harry falling off his broom. When they got to Potions class, Harry stopped by where Draco was setting up his cauldron.

 

“How nice for you to recover the use of your arm right _after_ getting out of having to play Quidditch in a thunderstorm, Draco,” Harry said dryly.

 

“Aw, upset about having to play in a little rain, Potter,” sneered Draco.

 

“I’m not the one who spent two months pretending to be injured to get out of a Quidditch match. I didn’t know that you were so afraid to face me on the pitch,” Harry taunted.

 

Draco flushed angrily, “I’m not afraid of you, Potter. We’ll have our match and I won’t need any help from the dementors to beat you.”

 

Harry grinned, “I’m looking forward to it, Draco. It’s too bad you weren’t able to play this weekend. I would have liked to see how you dealt with flying in such tricky conditions.”

 

“Potter! That’s ten points from Gryffindor for delaying the start of the lesson. Now get your your cauldron set up before I make it more,” Professor Snape snapped.

 

“No need to get your knickers in a twist, sir. I was just about to go get set up,” Harry said as he went to join Ron at their usual table.

 

Ron grinned at Harry and whispered, “Way to go, Harry. I can’t believe that Draco’s been getting away with faking being injured for so long.”

 

Harry smiled back, he had been trying his best to be friendly towards Draco but it had been a rotten weekend and Draco’s antics weren’t helping. It felt good to let a little of his frustration out in a bit of snark. Harry glanced over at Draco and felt a little guilty when he saw the other boy glare back at him. To Harry’s relief, the rest of Potions went smoothly and he was able to lose himself in the soothing familiarity of brewing under his dad’s watchful eye, despite Draco’s glares. His dreams the night before had been anything but restful and it felt good to be back to the routine of a regular school day.

 

Draco confronted Harry outside the Potions classroom as everyone headed towards the Great Hall for lunch.

 

“You think you’re so special, don’t you? The great Harry Potter, who can do no wrong. The only reason you don’t like Professor Snape is because he’s the only one who isn’t taken in by your famous name, and sees you for the trouble maker that you really are,” Draco spit out.

 

Harry blinked at him, “Have you forgotten last year when McGonagall took one hundred and fifty points from Ron, Neville and me for being out after curfew? I don’t like Professor Snape because he can’t see past my resemblance to my father and hates me because of something that happened before I was even born.”

 

“Whatever, Potter. You won’t be so cocky when Slytherin wins the Quidditch cup this year because you couldn’t stay on your broom.” Draco turned on his heels and stalked away, before Harry could respond.

 

After lunch was Defense of Dark Arts, where they were studying hinkypunks. Professor Lupin had brought in a glass box that contained a hinkypunk that looked as if it was made of wisps of smoke. It looked harmless but Lupin told the class how the hinkypunk could lure travelers into bogs with the lantern that was dangling from it’s hand. When the class ended Harry hung back anxious to talk to Moony.

 

Moony smiled at Harry, “How are you feeling? Completely recovered from your fall?”

 

“I feel fine, Moony but … when the dementors came onto the field - I heard Dad screaming again and then … I heard the Dark Lord murdering my mom and last night I kept dreaming about it. ...”

 

Moony pulled Harry into a quick hug, “I’m not surprised that you fell off of your broom, then. Dementors are foul creatures.”

 

_“Why did they have to come to the match?” Harry said bitterly._

 

_“They’re getting hungry,” said Lupin. “Dumbledore won’t let them into the school, so their supply of human prey has dried up. … I don’t think they could resist the large crowd around the Quidditch field. All that excitement … emotions running high … it was their idea of a feast.”_

 

_“Azkaban must be terrible,” Harry muttered. Lupin nodded grimly._

 

_“The fortress is set on a tiny island, way out to sea, but they don’t need walls and water to keep the prisoners in, not when they’re all trapped inside their own heads, incapable of a single cheerful thought. Most of them go mad within weeks.”_

 

“But Sirius Black got away,” Harry said slowly. “Do you think that it had anything to do with him being an animagus?”

 

“No,” Moony said quickly, then he hesitated. “Maybe, Black obviously found a way to fight them. It is possible that being an animagus had something to do with it. Dementors are supposed to drain a wizard of his powers if he is left with them too long. …”

 

“Moony, you made the dementor on the train back off and Dumbledore chased away the ones at the Quidditch match. Do you suppose you could teach me how to do that?”

 

“I can teach you the Patronus charm but it is an advanced spell and the more dementors there are, the more difficult it becomes. I will talk to your dad and maybe we can add some patronus lessons to your Occlumency ones..”

 

On Thursday evening, Snape kept Harry’s Occlumency lesson short so that Lupin could start teaching Harry the Patronus charm. Moony explained the Patronus charm and how to conjure it to Harry, and then told him to pick a single happy memory to concentrate on. Harry thought about all the happy memories he had, it was hard to pick just one. Finally he settled on the memory of his twelfth birthday party, when his dad had arrived with Ron and Harry realized everything that his dad and Moony had done to ensure that he would have the best party possible.

 

_“The incantation is this -” Lupin cleared his throat. “Expecto patronum!”_

 

_“Expecto patronum,” Harry repeated under his breath, “expecto patronum.”_

 

_Concentrating hard on your happy memory?”_

 

Harry focused his thoughts on that moment of surprise and joy when he saw Ron stepping out of the Floo with his Dad, just in time for his party. “Expecto patrono - no patronum - sorry - expecto patronum, expecto patronum -”

 

_Something wooshed suddenly out of the end of his wand; it looked like a wisp of silvery gas._

 

_“Did you see that?” said Harry excitedly. “Something happened!”_

 

“Very good,” said Moony. “Try it again.”

 

Harry worked on conjuring a Patronus for a while longer, experimenting with different happy memories until Moony decided that he had had enough for one evening.

 

“That was excellent, Harry. Next week we will try it with a boggart. The boggart will turn into a dementor when he sees you, so we’ll be able to practise on him.”

 

The following Thursday, Moony had found a boggart, and they ended up in the History of Magic classroom with Harry nervously preparing for Moony to release the boggart, after practising the Patronus Charm a couple more times without it.

 

“Are you concentrating hard on your happy memory?” Moony asked.

 

Harry nodded.

 

“Right then - are you ready to try it on a dementor?”

 

“Yes,” Harry said, gripping his wand very tightly.

 

Moony opened the crate that held the boggart and a dementor rose slowly from the box. Harry felt the temperature drop as the dementor swept silently towards him.

 

“Expecto patronum!” Harry yelled, desperately trying to hang on to the happy memory that he had selected. “Expecto patronum! EXPECTO PATRONUM!”

 

_The screaming inside Harry’s head had started again - except this time, it sounded as though it were coming from a badly tuned radio - softer and louder and softer again - and he could still see the dementor - it had halted - and then a huge, silver shadow came bursting out of the end of Harry’s wand, to hover between him and the dementor, and though Harry’s legs felt like water, he was till on his feet - though for how much longer, he wasn’t sure -_

 

_“Riddikulus!” roared Lupin, springing forward._

 

 _There was a loud crack, and Harry’s cloudy Patronus vanished along with the dementor; he sank into a chair, feeling as exhausted as if he’s just run a mile, and felt his legs shaking._ Harry watched Moony force the boggart back into the packing crate.

 

“Excellent!” Moony said. Excellent! I wasn’t expecting you to do it the first time. I guess last week’s practice really paid off.”

 

“Can we have another go? Just one more?”

 

“Not now,” Moony said firmly. “Conjuring that patronus took a lot out of you. You’ve had enough for one night. Here -”

 

He handed Harry another bar of chocolate. “Make sure you eat all of it. We’ll continue next week.”

 

Harry returned to the Gryffindor tower feeling quite pleased with himself that evening.

 

At the end of November, Ravenclaw flattened Hufflepuff in their Quidditch match, much to Gryffindor’s relief. They were still in the running for the cup as long as they did not lose another match. Wood regained his manic energy and worked his team as hard as ever, despite the chilly haze of rain that persisted into December. Harry kept his wand on him at all times, while he was on the school grounds, but he didn’t see any hint of a dementor. It seemed that Dumbledore’s anger was keeping them at their stations at the entrances.

 

As Christmas approached, the students were all happily discussing their plans for the holidays. With both his dad and Moony already at the castle, Harry had signed up to stay at Hogwarts for the holidays that year. Both Ron and Hermione decided to remain at the school as well, and Harry was glad that he was going to have their company. Overall, things were going well, Harry was making good progress with the Patronus charm and Draco had been leaving him and Ron alone, other than the occasional glare in their direction.

 

There was to be another Hogsmeade trip on the very last weekend of the term. Fortunately it wasn’t near the full moon this time so Harry went to ask Moony if he would take him to Hogsmeade. When Moony agreed, Harry found Ron and Hermione to plan what they would do in the village. A few days later, McGonagall spoke to Harry after Transfiguration.

 

“Mr. Potter, Professor Lupin has brought me your permission slip for Hogsmeade. You are very fortunate that he was willing to visit your guardians to get them to sign the permission form. He has also assured me that he and Professor Snape will accompany you to the village to guard you from Sirius Black. I want your word that you will remain with him and Professor Snape for the entire time that you are outside of Hogwarts’ wards.”

 

“Of course, Professor, I will stay with them. I’m just glad to have a chance to go to Hogsmeade with everyone else.”

 

On the Saturday morning of the Hogsmeade trip, Harry, Ron and Hermione met Professor Lupin and Professor Snape at the castle entrance. Snape had a sour look on his face when they arrived.

 

“I don’t see why you need to drag me along on this babysitting trip, Moony. I can think a lot of things that I would rather be doing, like scrubbing out cauldrons,” he said.

 

“Come on, Sev love, think of it as a date,” Moony coaxed.

 

“Some date, following a bunch of infants around Hogsmeade.”

 

Snape smiled sardonically at the outraged expressions that appeared on the teen’s faces when he called them infants, “Well, what are you waiting for? Let’s get going and get this over with.”

 

The group headed out of the castle, dressed for the stormy weather, in warm cloaks and scarfs, Remus taking Severus’ hand as they walked through the falling snow, along the path to Hogsmeade. Eager to show Harry everything there was to see in the village, Ron and Hermione started by taking him to Honeydukes. As they went into the shop Harry noticed the notice on the door, announcing that dementors would be patrolling the streets every night and he shuddered at the thought of it. He was glad that Dumbledore was making the dementors stay well away from the castle.

 

After they left the sweet shop Ron and Hermione debated where to take Harry next as they walked up the street, heads bowed against the bitter wind. Moony suggested that they visit Madam Puddifoot’s just to see the look on Severus’ face. Then Ron suggested that they go for a butterbeer in the Three Broomsticks to warm up, so they crossed the road, and in a few minutes were entering the tiny inn.

 

Ron volunteered to get the drinks, and Remus went with him, while the others found a place to sit at the back of the room. Remus and Ron were back five minutes later carrying five mugs of hot butterbeer.

 

“So, what sort of shop is Madam Puddifoot’s?” Harry asked as he accepted his drink from Ron.

 

“Oh, I’ve heard the older girls talking about it,” said Hermione. “They say it’s the most romantic place. They all want their boyfriends to take them there.”

 

“It’s a tea shop, Harry and as Hermione said it’s the place to go when on a Hogsmeade weekend date,” Moony said. “That’s why I thought Sevvie dear might like to go there, since he was complaining that today’s outing wasn’t much of a date.”

 

Severus looked very severe and pointed out, “It’s the place to go if you are a teenage girl on a date. Now, do I look like a teenage girl to you.”

 

The others laughed at that and then they finished their butterbeer and left the inn, passing Professors McGonagall and Flitwick who had just entered, followed by Hagrid and the Minister of Magic, Cornelius Fudge. The blizzard was still raging when they got back out onto the street so they agreed to visit Zonko’s joke shop and then head back to Hogwarts.


	8. Christmas

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Christmas Holidays start and Hagrid gets some bad news. Harry tries to help him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Italics are direct quotes from the book.

The next morning Ron and Harry were up early to say goodbye to Ron’s siblings and Neville before they left for the holidays. After everyone had left Harry, Ron and Hermione settled into the empty common room, Ron starting in on the candy he had bought at Honeydukes, while Harry tested out some of his Zonko products. Hermione pulled out her homework and got started on her holiday essays, covering three different tables with her work.

 

Eventually, Ron stretched lazily and suggested a visit to Hagrid.

 

_“No!” said Hermione quickly. “Harry isn’t supposed to leave the castle.”_

 

“I’ll be fine, Hermione. I’ve got the Map so we can make sure that Black isn’t anywhere about before we go outside and I’ve got my Cloak as well.”

 

Pulling out the Marauders Map Harry showed Hermione that the coast was clear and she reluctantly agreed to go with the boys. When they got to Hagrid’s hut, Ron knocked on the door but there was no answer. Ron put his ear to the door and then waved Harry and Hermione over to listen as well. Through the door they could hear a series of low, throbbing moans.

 

Harry thumped on the door as he called to Hagrid and they heard the groundskeeper heavy footsteps. When Hagrid opened the door it was obvious that he was crying, tears rolling down his face and splashing down the front of his leather vest.

 

_“Yeh’ve heard?” he bellowed, and he flung himself onto Harry’s neck._

 

Ron and Hermione rescued Harry, who was about to collapse under Hagrid’s weight, by seizing Hagrid under his arms and heaving him back into the cabin. Hagrid slumped into the chair that they steered him to and slumped over the table, sobbing uncontrollably.

 

_“Hagrid, what is it?” said Hermione, aghast._

 

_Harry spotted an official looking letter lying open on the table._

 

_“What’s this, Hagrid?”_

 

Hagrid’s sobs redoubled, but he shoved the letter toward Harry, who picked it up and read it aloud. The three friends were glad to hear that Hagrid wasn’t in trouble for Buckbeak attacking Draco, but they understood why Hagrid was so upset when Harry got to the part about Buckbeak’s hearing. Hagrid loved all his ‘interesting creatures’ and would be devastated if Buckbeak was deemed a dangerous creature and disposed of.

 

“I let Buckbeak go o’ course, shooed him away into the Forbidden Forest, but how d’yeh explain to a hippogriff it’s got to go inter hidin’? If he comes back here they’ll get him and then -”

 

_Hagrid drew his finger swiftly across his throat, then gave a great wail and lurched forward, his face in his arms._

 

“But Hagrid, what are you going to do when the time for the hearing comes? They won’t be happy with you if you don’t bring Buckbeak with you.”

 

“I don’ care what they do to me as long as Buckbeak is alrigh’. They can’t dispose of ‘im if they can’t find ‘im.”

 

“I’ll talk to Draco when he gets back to Hogwarts,” said Harry with determination. “I’m sure that I can convince him to get his Dad to withdraw his complaint, one way or another. Then there won’t have to be any hearing.”

 

Hermione shot Harry a doubtful look and turned back to Hagrid, promising to look up a case of hippogriff baiting that she remembered reading about to see if it had anything helpful. Hagrid howled even more loudly and Ron offered to make a cup of tea. Eventually, the trio got Hagrid calmed down with the help of Ron’s cup of tea and many more assurances of help.

 

The next day the three friends went to the library and took out all the books they could find that they thought might help prepare a defence for Buckbeak. Ron and Hermione sat in front of the roaring fire in the common room, searching through the dusty volumes about famous cases of marauding beasts, while Harry went to see his dad to see if he could help.

 

Severus and Lupin listened as Harry explained about Buckbeak’s hearing.

 

“Hagrid’s really upset, and it just isn’t fair! If Draco had just listened he would have known better than to insult Buckbeak and none of this would have happened. Buckbeak was just acting according to his nature, he shouldn’t be killed for it!”

 

“Why do I get the feeling that you want me to do something about this whole situation?” asked Severus.

 

“I thought that maybe you could talk to Mr. Malfoy and get him to withdraw his complaint, then they’d have to call the hearing off, right? I mean you were able to rescue Dobby, I’m sure you could help Buckbeak too.”

 

Remus spoke up, “I’ve met Buckbeak, while I was helping Hagrid with his lessons, he’s a handsome beast and no more dangerous than any other hippogriff. It does seem a pity that he should be destroyed and I would hate to see Hagrid get in trouble for trying to protect him.”

 

“Alright, Remus and I have been invited to the Malfoy’s New Year’s party, I will see if I can talk to Lucius then.”

 

“Thanks, Dad,” beaming, Harry gave his dad a hug and then ran off to tell Ron and Hermione.

 

“And when were you planning to tell me about this party we’re invited too?” Remus inquired, after Harry had left.

 

“I just got the invitation this morning, I hadn’t decided yet if I even wanted to go, but I guess I’m going now. You don’t have to though, I’m afraid that you won’t find the company very congenial.”

 

“I’ll go. It should be an interesting glimpse at how the other half lives. As for the company, you’ll be there so it won’t be that bad.”

 

Christmas morning, Ron woke Harry with a thrown pillow and a cry of, _“Oy! Presents!”_

 

Harry sat up, putting on his glasses and reached for the pile of presents sitting at the foot of his bed. He had received a Christmas sweater from Mrs. Weasley along with a number of homemade treats and after opening those he spotted a long, thin package lying underneath them. He unwrapped it to find a magnificent, gleaming broomstick, a Firebolt, exactly like the one he had seen in Diagon Alley. Ron jumped off his bed for a closer look.

 

_“I don’t believe it,” he said hoarsely. “Who sent it to you?”_

 

“It must be from Dad and Moony,” said Harry, “but there doesn’t seem to be a card with it. Maybe it dropped off.”

 

Harry searched through the wrapping and presents lying on his bed.

 

“Here’s a package from Dad and Moony, maybe the card’s in here,” he said as he picked up the last present left to unwrap.

 

Harry quickly unwrapped the gift to find a catalogue from Quality Quidditch supplies, along with a gift certificate that was enough to buy a good quality broom, but not a Firebolt. Harry read the accompanying card with increasing puzzlement.

 

“Dad writes that he and Moony will take me to shop for a broom at the end of the holidays. That’s what the gift certificate is for, but that means that they didn’t give me the Firebolt. So who did?”

 

_“I bet it was Dumbledore,” said Ron. “He sent you the Invisibility Cloak anonymously. …”_

 

“But that belonged to my father. Dumbledore was just passing it on to me. He wouldn’t spend hundreds of Galleons on me.” Harry really didn’t think it could be Dumbledore but he had no idea who would have sent him such an expensive present.

 

Ron started laughing when he thought of how Draco would react to Harry’s new broom. As Harry examined the Firebolt and Ron continued to laugh, Hermione came in, carrying Crookshanks.

 

“What’s Ron laughing about?”

 

At the sight of the cat Ron stopped laughing and snatched Scabbers from his bed and stowed him in his pajamas pocket. But Hermione wasn’t listening to Ron’s protests about Crookshank being in the dorm, she was staring open-mouthed at the Firebolt.

 

_“Oh, Harry! Who sent you that?”_

 

_“No idea,” said Harry. “There wasn’t a card or anything with it._ I thought maybe it was Dad and Moony, but they gave me a gift certificate for a new broom and the promise of a trip to Diagon Alley to pick it up. So it can’t of been them.”

 

Hermione’s face fell at this news. “That’s a bit odd, isn’t it? This must be a really expensive broom.”

 

_“Probably cost more than all the Slytherins’ brooms put together,” said Ron happily._

 

“I don’t like it,” said Hermione. “Why would someone send Harry such an expensive present and not even tell him they sent it?”

 

“I’m going to tell Moony about it right after breakfast,” Harry assured her. “He’ll be able to tell if something’s been done to it.”

 

Ron looked at him in horror. “You’re not even going to ride it first. I wanted to have a go on it.”

 

Before either of his friends could respond, Crookshanks sprang from Seamus’ bed, right at Ron’s chest.

 

Ron accidently kicked Harry’s trunk trying to kick Crookshanks away from Scabbers, knocking Harry’s Sneakoscope out onto the floor. Harry quickly stuffed the Sneakoscope, which was whirling and whistling as it spun on the floor, back into his trunk, muffled by a pair of socks, as Hermione strode out of the room with Crookshanks. Once things quieted down again, Harry was unpleasantly surprised at how ill Scabbers looked.

 

_“He’s not looking too good, is he?” Harry said._

 

_“It’s stress!” said Ron. “He’d be fine if that big stupid furball left him alone!”_

 

Things were strained when the two boys went down to the common room. Hermione was furious with Ron for trying to kick Crookshanks, who she had shut up in her dormitory and Ron was still fuming about Crookshanks latest attempt to eat Scabbers. Harry was glad to leave the common room to go show the Firebolt to his dad and Moony.

 

Severus and Remus looked carefully at the broom as Harry told them how he had found it with his gifts that morning.

 

“You haven’t tried to ride it, have you?” asked Severus sharply.

 

“Of course not, Dad,” Harry protested indignantly but he couldn’t help giving the broom a wistful look.

 

Noticing the look Moony reassured Harry, “You’ll get your Firebolt back once we’ve made sure that it’s safe. I’ll get Madam Hooch and Flitwick to help me strip it down to check for jinxes. We should be done with it within a few weeks so you’ll have it in plenty of time to practice for your next game, as long as it’s safe.”

 

“And if it turns out that this broom isn’t safe to use, you’ll still have that gift certificate we gave you. We’ll just postpone the trip to Diagon Alley by a couple of weeks.” Severus added.

 

“Alright,” Harry responded, really hoping that he would be able to keep the Firebolt. “Thank you for the gift certificate by the way. I’m going to spend some time looking through the catalogue. If I can keep the Firebolt then I need to decide what else I want to spend it on. I’ll see you at dinner.”

 

“I’m afraid that I don’t feel up to going to the Christmas dinner today, even though it’s still a few days away from the full moon I’m already feeling its effects. You two go and enjoy the feast and I’ll get Dobby to bring me a selection of my favorites to eat here.”

 

Harry went up to the common room to collect Ron and Hermione and then they went down to the Great Hall. When they got there they found that the House tables had been moved against the walls, and that a single table, set for twelve, stood in the middle of the room. Professors Dumbledore, McGonagall, Sprout, Flitwick and of course Snape were there, along with Filch, the caretaker. There were only three other students there, two nervous looking first years and one sullen faced Slytherin fifth year.

 

_“Merry Christmas!” said Dumbledore as Harry, Ron and Hermione approached the table. “As there are so few of us, it seemed foolish to use the House tables. … Sit down, sit down!”_

 

The three friends sat down and watched Dumbledore offer the end of a large silver cracker to Snape, who took it reluctantly and tugged. Dumbledore cheerfully swapped his hat for the large, pointed witch’s hat that was revealed when the cracker flew apart.

 

_“Dig in!” he advised the table, beaming around._

 

As they began to eat, Professor Trelawney came into the Hall, wearing a green sequined dress. Dumbledore stood to greet her and Trelawney told him that she was prompted to join them by a vision in her crystal ball. Dumbledore quickly and literally, using his wand, drew up a chair for her to sit in but Trelawney did not sit down. She uttered a kind of soft scream, after looking around the table.

 

_“I dare not Headmaster! If I join the table, we shall be thirteen! Nothing could be more unlucky! Never forget that when thirteen dine together, the first to rise will be the first to die!”_

 

_“We’ll risk it, Sibyll,” said Professor McGonagall impatiently. “Do sit down, the turkey’s getting stone cold.”_

 

Reluctantly, Sybill lowered herself into the empty chair looking as if she expected a thunderbolt to hit the table. Then she looked around the table again and said. _“But where is dear Professor Lupin?”_

 

“Unfortunately, Remus was not feeling well enough to come to dinner, today,” Professor Snape informed her. “Our house elf, Dobby, has brought his meal to our quarters so that he would not miss out on Christmas Dinner completely.”

 

“It is most unfortunate that he should be ill on Christmas Day,” said Dumbledore. _“Severus, you’ve made the potion for him again?”_

 

“Of course, Headmaster,” said Snape.

 

_“Good,” said Dumbledore. “Then he should be up and about in no time.”_

 

The rest of the dinner passed peacefully and Harry enjoyed the foot and the party crackers but he missed the bustle and liveliness of Christmas Dinner at the Browns. Sitting down to Christmas Dinner with his teachers, while having to ignore his dad sitting at the far end of the table, just wasn’t the same. When Harry and Ron finally got up from the table, Trelawney shrieked loudly.

 

_“My dears! Which of you left his seat first? Which?”_

 

_“Dunno,” said Ron, looking uneasily at Harry._

 

_“I doubt it will make much difference,” said Professor McGonagall coldly, “unless a mad axe-man is waiting outside the doors to slaughter the first into the entrance hall.”_

 

Everyone laughed and Professor Trelawney looked highly affronted.

 

Hermione then got up from the table as well and accompanied the two boys back to their common room.

 

“Did you give Moony the broom, Harry?” Hermione demanded as they left the Great Hall.

 

“Of course I did, Hermione.” Harry answered.

 

“Why did you have to do that?” whined Ron. “Couldn’t we have had a go on it first. What harm could it have done.”

 

“Who knows what jinxes where on the broom, Ron!” exclaimed Hermione. “You could have been killed!”

 

“Yeah, but what a way to go, riding an international standard broom,” Ron sighed.

 

“Ron, Dad would have killed me for doing something so stupid.” Harry pointed out. “If I survived riding the broom sent to me by who knows who, that is. Don’t forget there is a mass murderer out there who wants me dead.”

 

Ron was upset with Harry for turning the broom over to be stripped down. He thought that the stripping-down of a brand new Firebolt was nothing less than criminal damage. Though he did have to admit that he wouldn’t want to face Professor Snape’s wrath if any harm had come to Harry from riding the broom. After Christmas Day he didn’t really say anything about it, although he was rather sulky through the rest of the week until New Years. Harry and Hermione split their time between looking for information to help defend Buckbeak and trying to cheer up Ron, by dragging him along on their visits with Severus and Remus. They also spent some time with Hagrid to try to cheer him up as well. This helped Ron, since it gave him something else to think about than how upset he was about the Firebolt.


	9. New Years

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Severus and Remus go to the Malfoy's New Years party.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Italics are direct quotes from the books.

Snape looked worriedly at his friend as they prepared to go to the Malfoy’s New Years Day party.

 

“Are you sure that you’re up to this? It hasn’t been that long since the full moon.”

 

“I’m sure. I feel fine and I can always make my excuses and Floo home early if it gets to be too much.”

 

A few minutes later the two wizards stepped out of the Floo into a large room in the Malfoy Manor, where Lucius and Narcissa stood ready to greet their guests as they arrived. They felt a faint buzz from the built in cleaning charms removing the soot from their dress robes as they exited the fireplace.

 

“Welcome, Severus, I am glad that you finally agreed to come to one of our little gatherings,” said Narcissa. “And this must be your secret paramour that Draco has been telling us about,” she added archly as she looked at Remus.

 

Severus took the hand that Narcissa extended to him and bowed over it. “Narcissa, Lucius, I would like you to meet my partner, Professor Remus Lupin.” Turning to Remus he continued, “Remus, these are Draco’s parents and my good friends, Narcissa and Lucius Malfoy.”

 

Remus stepped forward and took Narcissa’s hand and kissed it, remembering the etiquette lessons that Sirius had once given to the other Marauders as a joke.

 

“It is a pleasure to meet you Mrs. Malfoy. Thank you for the invitation to your lovely home.”

 

Remus then turned to Lucius and inclined his head slightly, “Malfoy.”

 

“Lupin,” Lucius responded with an even smaller incline of his head, regarding his guest with hooded eyes.

 

Leaving Remus to deal with Narcissa’s curiosity about their relationship, Severus drew Lucius aside.

 

“I must apologize for Remus’ coldness. Unfortunately, he recognized Dobby, from Potter’s description, when I brought the elf home, and while he sympathizes with your goals, he did not approve of the method you chose. He is quite protective of children, you see and he will not easily forgive the near-death of a young pureblood witch. He is really too tender hearted to ever fully embrace the Dark Arts I’m afraid, despite his interest in them.”

 

“You assured me that I would be safe from discovery, if I let you take Dobby,” Lucius said sharply.

 

“And you are, now that I have ensured Dobby’s … silence. Remus will hold his tongue for my sake, since he knows that I do not want your part in the events of last year to be known. That does bring me to another matter, though.”

 

“And what would that be?”

 

“You see, Remus has a particular interest in magical creatures, both those that are classified as ‘dark’ and those that are not. He has been helping that oaf, Hagrid, with planning his classes, to ensure the students safety, and he is quite distressed about the possibility of the griffin, Buckbeak, being destroyed. If you would drop the complaint that would go a long way to improving his opinion of you. I can assure you that the hippogriff will no longer be allowed in contact with any students and Remus will continue to vet the Care of Magical Creatures lessons for any dangers that Hagrid would miss.”

 

“Draco would not be happy with me dropping my complaint. He was quite pleased to learn that the hippogriff that injured him would be dealt with.”

 

“Draco is old enough to understand that there are times when the pleasures of revenge must be put aside for the good of his family,” Snape responded smoothly.

 

“Fine, I will let the school governors know that I have been satisfied by the actions of the school at this time, and there is no need to take the matter further. I will, however, leave it to you to explain the matter to Draco.”

 

“Thank you. Remus will appreciate your forbearance.”

 

Lucius went to greet the guests that had arrived while he was talking to Severus, and the Potions Master looked to see how Remus was doing. Seeing that he was occupied with talking to the Parkinson’s and the Nott’s, Severus went to look for Draco. As he expected he found the youngest Malfoy surrounded by the young Slytherin’s who had accompanied their parents to the party. Severus was amused by the way his students straightened in their seats when he approached them.

 

“Hello Draco, would you please accompany me to the library. I have something I would like to talk to you about.”

 

“Of course,  _ Professor _ ,” Draco responded in a surly manner, as he got up from the sofa he was sitting on.

 

Severus sighed to himself as he followed his godson into the library. He should have realized how upset Draco was with him earlier. Hopefully he could smooth things over when they talked. 

 

Draco turned to his godfather when they had entered the library and asked, “What did you want to talk to me about,  _ Professor _ ? Was there a problem with my last Potions essay?”

 

“Is that anyway to talk to your godfather, Draco? We’re not at Hogwarts now.”

 

“My  _ godfather _ would have told me about the man he’s been living with for the past decade. Do you realize how embarrassing it is for  _ Potter _ , of all people, to know more about my own godfather than I do. I’ve spent the last two years telling everyone that Potter was wrong about the relationship between you and Lupin. After all if my godfather was dating someone, surely I would have known about it, right?”

 

Severus winced at the hurt in Draco’s voice, “I’m sorry. I should have told you about Remus a long time ago. Especially, after you had started Hogwarts and Remus started attending the Quidditch games with me.”

 

“Why didn’t you? And why does Potter know? My  _ parents _ didn’t even know about Lupin before I told them.”

 

“Potter knows because Remus was friends with his father when they were both at Hogwarts, so when Dumbledore made me take the brat to get his school supplies for first year, Remus invited himself along. Remus’ fond memories of the brat’s father was also why he started coming to the Quidditch games to watch him play. I didn’t realize that Potter would decide to use his knowledge of my personal life to garner even more attention for himself. As for why I didn’t tell you or your parents …” Snape paused for a moment, “The truth is I’m selfish. You’re my godson, and I didn’t want to share my time with you with anyone else, even Remus. I knew that if I told your parents about him they would have insisted I bring him over when I came to visit. After a while, I had just gotten into the habit of not thinking about Remus when I was with you, so even when you started Hogwarts and we had more time together, it never occured to me to tell you about him.”

 

“You should have told me.”

 

“You’re right, I should have told you. I don’t blame you for being angry with me, but I miss spending time with you. I miss having you drop into my office to tell me about your day or have me look over your assignments. I even miss hearing you complain about Potter.”

 

“I miss being able to tell you about my day, too,” Draco admitted. “Uncle Severus, if I start coming to see you again, will you do a bit more than just look over my assignments. You owe me after all.”

 

Severus frowned at his godson, “Draco, I would be doing you a disservice if I did your homework for you. I will look over your assignments for you and give you suggestions for how you could improve them as always. I am also willing to assist you with planning your essays and doing the research if you feel you need it, but it is important that you do most of the work on your own. Trust me, we do not assign essays because we enjoy marking them, researching and writing the assigned essays is an important part of learning the theory behind the practical work you do in class.”

 

Draco shrugged, “It was worth a try.”

 

“There is something else I needed to tell you. You’re father is going to tell the school governors that he no longer wishes to pursue his complaint about the hippogriff that attacked you.”

 

“What? Why?” Draco exclaimed.

 

“Potter has decided to campaign for Buckbeak’s innocence and it wouldn’t be wise for Lucius to oppose him at this time. It seems that Potter has discovered some  information about your father that would be detrimental to him if it became public knowledge, due to the disloyalty of your former house elf.”

 

“Dobby? Is that why Father gave him to you?”   
  


“That’s right. I have taken steps to ensure Dobby’s silence but Potter is not so easily dealt with. Fortunately, Remus has convinced him not to reveal Lucius’s secrets in exchange for Buckbeak’s survival.”

 

“That stupid hippogriff deserves to die for injuring me and I already told my friends that it was going to be destroyed.” Draco protested, sulkily.

 

“From what I heard, you were injured because you didn’t pay sufficient attention to Hagrid’s warnings at the beginning of the lesson,” Remus said as he entered the library. “I hardly think that Buckbeak deserves to die for reacting, in exactly the way you had been warned he would react, to your insults. As for your friends, Hagrid has released Buckbeak and will keep him away from Hogwarts, for a time. If you do not tell your friends otherwise they will assume he has been destroyed as you told them he would be.”

 

“Moony! Are you alright? Did you want to head home now?” Severus examined his friend carefully, searching for any signs of exhaustion or pain.

 

“I’m feeling fine, Sev. I actually had something I wanted to say to Draco, before the two of you rejoined the party.” Turning to Draco, Remus continued, “I just wanted to let you know that I have no intention of coming between you and Severus or taking his time away from you. If you want to spend time with Sevvie while I’m there, don’t be afraid to tell me to get lost, I can always find something else to do. I know how important you are to him and I don’t want to make him have to choose between us. OK?”

 

“OK,” responded Draco. “I should be getting back to my friends. Uncle Severus, I’ll see you back at school.”

 

With a nod to his godfather, Draco left the library.

 

“Thank you, Moony,” said Severus.

 

“No need to thank me. You did apologize to him, didn’t you?”

 

“Of course. We’d better go back to the party before Narcissa sends a house-elf after us.”

 

They left the library and circulated among the other guests. Remus was talking to some of the Hogwarts parents about their children, with the occasional interjection from Severus, when Narcissa found them again.

 

“You really seem to enjoy teaching, Remus,” she said. “Draco tells me that you are a favorite among the students.”

 

“He is the best Defense teacher that we have had at Hogwarts in a long time,” agreed Severus.

 

“Hearing how well you work with the children makes me wonder, have you and Severus ever thought of having children of your own?”

 

Severus choked on the wine that he had been sipping. Patting him on the back, Remus answered, “We haven’t really talked about it, but I don’t believe that now would be a good time. We’re both so busy with our teaching duties.”

 

“Well, you should think about it. I am sure that both of you would be good fathers. You are so good with Draco, Severus, that I’ve always thought it was a pity that you didn’t have any children of your own.“

 

Severus recovered from his choking fit and dryly replied, “Draco I could give back to you at the end of the day. I have enough of children at work and have no desire to have any of my own.”

 

To Severus’ relief, Narcissa then turned the conversation to other topics. Eventually, Remus began to tire and they said their goodbyes to their hosts and took the Floo home, after Severus found Draco to tell him goodbye as well. As soon as they were back in their quarters at Hogwarts Severus insisted that Remus head right to bed.

 

The next day, they told Harry that Lucius would be dropping the complaint about Buckbeak. Remus then accompanied the three children to see Hagrid and give him the good news. Hagrid’s happiness when he heard that Buckbeak was safe was contagious, and Ron found himself happier than he had been since Harry gave up his Firebolt to be inspected. The returning students found the three friends in good spirits when they arrived at Hogwarts that evening.

 

Wood sought Harry out in the common room after dinner.

 

_ “Had a good Christmas?” he said, and then, without waiting for an answer, he sat down, lowered his voice, and said, “I’ve been doing some thinking over Christmas, Harry. After the last match, you know. If the dementors come to the next one … I mean … we can’t afford you to - well -” _

 

_ Wood broke off, looking awkward. _

 

“That’s taken care of,” Harry said quickly. “Professor Lupin has been training me to ward off dementors and I’m getting pretty good at it. I shouldn’t have any more problems with them.”

 

_ “Ah,” said Wood, his expression clearing. “Well, in that case - I really didn’t want to lose you as Seeker, Harry. And have you ordered a new broom yet?” _

 

_ “No,” said Harry. _

 

_ “What! You’d better get a move on, you know - you can’t ride a Shooting Star against Ravenclaw!” _

 

_ “He got a Firebolt for Christmas,” said Ron. _

 

_ “A Firebolt? No! Seriously? A - a real Firebolt?” _

 

“Don’t get too excited, Oliver,” said Harry. “I haven’t got it anymore. I had to hand it over to Professor Lupin to get checked for jinxes. He said he would have it back to me in plenty of time for the match with Ravenclaw if it checks out alright. Otherwise, he’s going to take me to Diagon Alley one weekend to buy another broom, but it wouldn’t be as good as the Firebolt, of course.”

 

_ “Jinxed? How could it be jinxed?” _

 

“Sirius Black,” Harry said. “He’s after me, right? So it’s possible that he sent the broom to me.”

 

_ “But Black couldn’t have bought a Firebolt! He’s on the run! The whole country’s on the lookout for him! How could he just walk into Quality Quidditch Supplies and buy a broomstick?” _

 

“I don’t know, but I don’t think I should take the chance, and if there’s nothing wrong with the broom I’ll get it back in a couple of weeks, with no harm done. I’m sure that Professor Lupin won’t do anything to hurt it.”

 

“I’ll talk to Professor McGonagall,” Wood promised. “She wants Gryffindor to win as much as we do. … I’m sure that she can get it back from Professor Lupin. … A real Firebolt on our team. … A Firebolt ...”


	10. Secrets

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Neville finds out some things that he wasn't supposed to know and Harry finally gets his Firebolt back.

As they settled into the new term, Ron was reminded of something that had been bothering him since the start of the school year.

 

“How is she doing it?” he muttered to Harry, staring at Hermione who was too busy with her immense load of homework to notice his scrutiny.

 

“Doing what?”

 

“Getting to all her classes!” Ron said. “She’s been to all of our Divination lessons, even though she thinks that it’s all rubbish, but you’ve never mentioned her missing any Arithmancy lessons …”

 

“That’s because she never has missed any,” agreed Harry.

 

“And that’s impossible because half of them are at the same time!”

 

“I don’t know Ron. Maybe you should just ask her about it.”

 

“I have, she won’t tell me. She just says that McGonagall made special arrangements for her to take all the electives and she’s not allowed to tell anyone about it.”

 

At that point Harry noticed Neville heading towards where he and Ron were sitting and he realized that it was time to head down into the dungeon for Neville’s tutoring session. He said goodbye to Ron and left the common room with Neville. Ron watched them go and then he turned his attention to trying to drag Hermione away from her homework for a while. She looked like she needed to take a break before she collapsed from overwork. Hermione did not appreciate being interrupted and snapped at Ron to leave her alone.

 

Like usual, Professor Snape greeted Harry and Neville as they entered the Potions classroom without looking up from the papers he was marking. Neville set up his cauldron and fetched the potion ingredients he needed for the potion and started to work, as Harry watched and made suggestions. Unfortunately, Neville was feeling rusty after the holidays and that made him nervous. His nerves made him clumsy and as a result his ingredient weren’t prepared as well as they normally would, but he persisted and, with Harry’s help, managed to complete an acceptable potion. He had just finished the potion, when he realized that Snape was standing behind him, having come over to inspect the finished potion. Neville moved out of his way a little too quickly and ended up tripping over his own feet and falling into the table covered in potion ingredients, scattering frogs eyes and dragonfly wings everywhere.

 

“Longbottom, seeing as you managed to successfully complete the potion, you may go. Potter, clean up this mess.” Professor Snape said, eyeing the spilled potion ingredients.

 

Neville quickly left the classroom, glad to escaped Snape’s usual scathing reaction to his clumsiness, but as he closed the door behind him he stopped, hand still on the doorknob. He really didn’t want to be in the same room as Professor Snape at that moment but it wasn’t right that Harry had to clean up the mess that he had created. Neville took a deep breath and reminded himself that he was a Gryffindor before turning the knob and pushing the door back open. As the room came into view again, Neville froze in surprise. A house elf was busy cleaning up the spilled potion ingredients, and Snape was sitting at his desk again, with Harry leaning against his shoulder. Snape smiling indulgently as Harry chattered away about Oliver Wood, and his excitement about the possibility of having a Firebolt on the Gryffindor Quidditch team. Then Neville got an even bigger shock at what he heard Harry say next.

 

“Dad, how long do you think it’s going to take Moony to finish with my Firebolt? I want to be able to start practising with it as soon as possible, so I can be ready for our next game.”

 

Neville realized that he must have made some sort of noise when he heard Harry call Professor Snape, Dad, because the two of them were now looking at him. Before he could do anything, Professor Snape spoke.

 

“You’d better come in and shut the door, Longbottom. It seems that Harry and I have some explaining to do.”

 

Neville stepped in the classroom and shut the door behind him as he tried to form a coherent sentence. He found himself blurting out, “I thought you hated Harry,” and he stopped with a blush. That wasn’t what he had wanted to say at all.

 

Both Snape and Harry laughed and then Professor Snape explained, “That’s what everyone is supposed to think, and it’s important that they continue to think that there is no love lost between Harry and me.” He fixed Neville with a stern gaze, “Do you understand Mr. Longbottom?”

 

“No,” Neville admitted, “I don’t understand anything. Why is it so important that everyone thinks that you hate Harry? And why is Harry calling you Dad, anyways? None of this makes any sense.”

 

“I call Professor Snape, Dad, because he and Moony have been taking care of me, ever since Dad rescued me from my Muggle relatives when I was a baby,” Harry said. “As for why it’s important for everyone to think that he hates me, Dad’s better at explaining that than I am.”

 

“During the war I acted as a spy for Professor Dumbledore, reporting on the Dark Lord’s movements and plans,” explained Snape. “When the Dark Lord vanished on the night that he murdered the Potters and tried to kill Harry, Professor Dumbledore was convinced that he would one day return and I would have to take up that role again. The only way I can do that without putting Harry in danger is if the Dark Lord never learns of our relationship. It will be hard enough to regain my position of trust in his inner circle after Dumbledore used his influence to have me released from Azkaban as it is. If the Dark Lord thinks that Harry has any reason to trust me, then he will demand that I turn the boy-who-lived over to him to prove my loyalty.” Snape paused and studied Neville for a moment before continuing, “That is also why I have been so hard on you as well, Mr. Longbottom. The prophecy that caused the Dark Lord to go after Harry could equally well have applied to you and I had no wish to put your life in danger, either. Although, I never meant to cause you to fear me as much as I apparently have.”

 

“So - you - you were never really a Death Eater then, you were acting as a spy?” Neville asked, hesitatingly.

 

“Unfortunately, in the beginning I really was a Death Eater, a faithful follower of the Dark Lord, until he decided to target someone close to me.” Snape looked haunted, “I am no hero, Longbottom. I am only trying to do what little I can to make up for the mistakes of my past.”

 

“I overheard my Great Uncle Algie talking to my gran about you once, in the summer before I started at Hogwarts,” Neville said. “He was really upset that you were teaching here, he didn’t think that a former Death Eater was a safe person to have around children. ”

 

“Is that why you were so scared of Dad?” Harry asked.

 

Neville nodded, “That’s all I knew about Professor Snape when I got here, that he had been a Death Eater and that meant that he was dangerous, and then we had our first potions class ... Then at the end of the year we found out that You-Know-Who was still out there and all I could think about was that there was a Death Eater here, in the school. I was terrified.”

 

“Well, you don’t need to be afraid anymore,” Harry reassured him. “Dad will keep you safe. He’s really good at that.”

 

“I will do my best, Mr. Longbottom, but it is important that you remember to keep all this a secret, even from your grandmother and great-uncle. Do you understand.”

 

Neville nodded again. “I understand. I won’t tell anyone.”

 

“Good,” said Snape. “Harry I think that you should lend your book on Occlumency to Mr. Longbottom and teach him some of the meditation techniques that I showed you. Just in case.”

 

Harry agreed to this, and said goodnight to his dad, and then the two boys started back to their common room. When they got there, Harry dragged Neville over to where Hermione and Ron were sitting, Hermione still busy with her homework. Ron had given up on trying to distract her and had started working on one of his assignments as well.

 

Dropping into the chair beside Ron, Harry leaned forward and said in a low voice, “Neville knows about The Professor now.”

 

Hermione looked up from her work, obviously startled, “What? How?”

 

“This is great,” Ron chortled. “We’ve got so much to tell you, mate. Come on Hermione, pack up your work and let’s go.”

 

“We can talk in Moony’s office. That should be safe enough,” Harry decided.

 

Hermione reluctantly put away her books, and followed the three boys out through the portrait hole. If Ron and Harry were going to be filling Neville in on all the things they couldn’t tell him over the past couple of years, someone needed to make sure they didn’t stay out past curfew.

 

A week after the winter term started, Ravenclaw played Slytherin and lost, though narrowly. Wood insisted that this was good news for Gryffindor, who would be in second place if they also beat Ravenclaw. He increased the number of team practices to five a week and Harry wasn’t sure how he was going to find time for his school work. Fortunately, Neville told him he was alright being tutored by Professor Snape since the revelations of the week before, leaving Harry with just one night a week to do all his homework. With his two best friends so busy, Ron took to spending most of his time hanging out with Neville. The two of them spent their time trying to get Hermione to take a break from her work occasionally and watching Harry practise Quidditch, as well as playing Exploding Snap and Chess.

 

Padfoot watched the Gryffindor Quidditch team fly above the pitch. The pup was still using an old school broom. What had happened to the Firebolt that he had ordered? He was sure that Crookshanks had delivered the letter to the owl office, had it gone astray after that? Padfoot whined to himself in dismay. He had wanted to do something to help Prongs’ pup but he had failed. He slunk back into the forest, and reminded himself of why he was there. He had to find a way to get at that rat. At least then the pup would be safe and he would have his revenge. He would not fail at that.

 

As it got closer to the end of January, Wood started to worry that Harry would not get his Firebolt back in time for the match against Ravenclaw. He had tried to talk to McGonagall about it and was soundly taken to task for showing more concern about the outcome of a Quidditch match than Harry’s well being. Wood then tried to get Harry to buy another broom but Harry was confident that Moony would have the Firebolt back to him in time. Even if it was taking longer than they had expected to be sure that it was safe. Finally, at the end of January, on the day of the full moon, Moony told Harry to stay after class so that he could give him the Firebolt back.

 

“Thanks Moony. I take it you didn’t find anything wrong with it?”

 

“We’ve done everything we could think of, and we couldn’t find anything. The broom is safe.”

 

“I can’t wait to try it out!” Harry looked at Moony a little guiltily. “My lesson is canceled today isn’t it? I mean I know you can’t do it, and it would look suspicious for Dad to take over for you. ...”

 

“It’s all right, Harry. Your lessons for this evening are cancelled for the obvious reasons so you can go and give your Firebolt a try. I’m sure that Ron will want to join you.”

 

“You’re right! I’d better go tell him right away!” Harry ran off to find Ron so they could try out the Firebolt.

 

Oliver Wood was ecstatic that Harry had gotten his Firebolt back, but not as ecstatic as the large black dog that watched them fly from the edge of the Forbidden Forest. Padfoot wagged his tail wildly as he watched Prong’s pup put the Firebolt through its paces. He didn’t know why it had taken so long for the pup to fly on the broom that he had sent, but it was enough that he was enjoying it now.


	11. Quidditch and Dementors

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Harry talks to Lupin about Dementors, Scabbers disappears and Padfoot overhears a conversation about Professor Lupin and Professor Snape.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Italics are direct quotes from the books.

Harry loved flying on his Firebolt, it was so responsive that it was like it was obeying his thoughts rather than his grip, and it was so fast that the stadium turned into a gray and green blur as he flew. For once he wasn’t happy when Thursday arrived and with it his Occlumency and anti-dementor lessons, since it meant that he would have no time to fly that day. Harry found himself unable to clear his mind when trying to practice his Occlumency, his mind was too full of thoughts of flying and the coming game against Ravenclaw. Interestingly enough, this meant that, while his dad had no trouble entering his mind he did have trouble penetrating to anything past the thoughts of Quidditch filling Harry’s head.

 

By the time Moony had set up for Harry’s patronus lesson, Harry had settled down somewhat. Preparing to face the boggart-dementor had a sobering effect. He fixed his mind on the memory of soaring across the pitch on his Firebolt and waited for the boggart to be released. Harry wasn’t really happy about his progress in producing a Patronus, even using his strongest memories he still hadn’t managed to produce a corporeal Patronus and he felt he should have been able to after three months of lessons. Moony tried to reassure him that he was doing well, even if it didn’t feel like it.

 

After the lesson was over, Moony brought out some butterbeer to share with Harry. As they drank, Harry brought up something that had been bothering him.

 

“The school years half over and we still haven’t been able to do anything about Sirius Black.  Do you really think that we’ll be able to find him before the Ministry does?”

 

“I hope so, Harry. It seems that the dementors have been given permission to give Sirius the Dementor’s Kiss if they find him. If that happens we’ll have lost all chance to get our answers.”

 

“The Dementor’s Kiss?”

 

_ “It’s what dementors do to those they wish to destroy utterly. They clamp their jaws upon the mouth of the victim and - and suck out his soul.” _

 

_ Harry accidentally spat out a bit of butterbeer. _

 

“What - their going to kill him?”

 

_ “Oh no,” said Lupin. “Much worse that that. You can exist without your soul, you know, as long as your brain and heart are still working. But you’ll have no sense of self anymore, no memory, no … anything. There’s no chance at all of recovery. You’ll just - exist. As an empty shell. And your soul is gone forever … lost.” _

 

_ Harry sat stunned for a moment at the idea of someone having their soul sucked out through their mouth.  _

 

“I’m glad that you never told the Ministry about Black being an animagus in that case.”

 

Then he pulled out the map and had another look at the grounds.

 

“He’s never on the map when I look for him but I know he’s been on the grounds at least twice,” Harry complained as he searched.

 

“Sirius knows about the map so I’m sure that he’s been making an effort to stay outside the bounds of what the map shows, for the most part, and it’s probably not a coincidence that the times he’s been within the bounds have been when I’ve been busy or otherwise incapacitated.”

 

Folding up the map, Harry finished up his butterbeer and said goodnight to Moony before heading back to the Gryffindor Tower. When he reached the corridor to the tower he found Neville pleading with Sir Cadogan, who was refusing him entrance. Neville had made Sir Cadogan give him the passwords for the week so that he could write them down but had managed to loose them. Harry gave the password and he and Neville entered the common room.

 

They saw Hermione sitting in her usual corner and went to join her. She greeted them and told them that Ron had just gone up to the dorm to give Scabbers his rat tonic. Harry was asking Hermione about their most recent Arithmancy assignment, when a strangled yell echoed down the boys’ staircase. The whole common room fell silent, staring, at the entrance, as Ron came running down the stairs dragging a bedsheet with him.

 

_ “LOOK!” he bellowed, striding over to Hermione’s table. “LOOK!” he yelled, shaking the sheets in her face. _

 

_ “Ron, what - ?” _

 

_ “SCABBERS! LOOK! SCABBERS!” _

 

Harry, Hermione and Neville stared at the sheet that Ron was brandishing. There was a spot of red on it. A spot that looked like -

 

_ “BLOOD!” Ron yelled into the stunned silence. “HE’S GONE! AND YOU KNOW WHAT WAS ON THE FLOOR?” _

 

_ “N - no,” said Hermione in a trembling voice. _

 

Ron threw several long, ginger cat hairs down onto Hermione’s rune translation. Harry and Hermione stared at them in silence. After a moment Hermione asked Ron if he’d checked under all the boy’s beds in the dorm. Ron took this badly, he was angry that Hermione had not done more to keep Crookshanks away from Scabbers and Hermione trying to suggest that maybe Crookshanks was innocent was the last straw. Hermione then claimed that there was no proof that Crookshanks had eaten Scabbers, the ginger hairs may have been there since Christmas. Harry pointed out that all the evidence pointed to Crookshanks having eaten Scabbers and Hermione lost her temper with him as well.

 

The next day Hermione avoided both boys. While Harry spent the day trying to cheer up Ron, who was extremely upset by the loss of his rat. As a last ditch attempt to cheer him up, Harry persuaded Ron to come along to the final Quidditch practise before the match with Ravenclaw. The prospect of having another go on the Firebolt after the practice did lighten Ron’s mood for a moment so Harry considered the offer a success.

 

As night fell, Padfoot watched Prongs’ pup head over to his red headed friend, as the rest of the Gryffindor Quidditch team headed back into the castle. Padfoot continued to watch the two boys until he was joined by Crookshanks, who had some news for him. The rat was gone, leaving blood on the sheets of the boy’s bed. Somehow he had gotten wind of what was going on and made a run for it. Padfoot waited until Madam Hooch and the two boys were back in the castle and then he headed over to the Quidditch pitch to find a place to hide. He had a way into the Gryffindor Tower now, and hopefully he would be able to find that rat, but first he had a Quidditch game to watch. He was looking forward to seeing how well the pup would perform on his Firebolt. There was no doubt in his mind that Gryffindor would win the game.

 

The next morning, Harry woke up with all thoughts of Sirius Black gone from his head. He was excited for the upcoming Quidditch match and looking forward to flying his Firebolt in an actual game. When the time for the match arrived Harry made sure to stow his wand inside the t-shirt that he was going to wear under his Quidditch robes, hoping that he wouldn’t need it.

 

The Ravenclaw seeker, Cho Chang, turned out to be very pretty and a good flyer. Harry saw and lost the Snitch twice, thanks to the skill of the Ravenclaw team, especially their seeker. As Harry started for the snitch for the third time, Cho cried out and pointed down, Harry looked where she was pointing and saw three tall, black, hooded dementors looking up at him. He pulled out his wand and cast a Patronus charm at the Dementors and then headed for the Snitch again. He realized that the dementors hadn’t affected him at all as he reached out and caught the Snitch in the hand that was still grasping his wand.

 

Remus watched as Harry managed to cast his best Patronus yet. His pride turned to amusement as he watched the dementors collapse into a crumpled heap on the ground, revealing Draco Malfoy, and his two friends, Crabbe and Goyle as well as the Slytherin team captain, Marcus Flint, under the long, black, hooded robes. Beside him Severus sniffed and commented.

 

“A worthy attempt to tilt the odds of the match in Ravenclaws favour but they made a mistake in failing to properly assess the abilities of their opponent. I hope they have learned a valuable lesson about not taking into account the possibility that an adversary might gain in skill between one encounter and the next.” 

 

Shaking his head over his friend’s take on the situation, Lupin went to congratulate Harry and show him the ‘dementors’ that he had he had defeated.

 

Padfoot quivered with the effort it took to not run out and join the Gryffindor’s celebration of the win. He wistfully watched them head back into the castle. He would be following them later but for a much more serious purpose than a victory party. As he waited for the stands to clear, an overheard conversation between two Ravenclaw girls distracted him from his thoughts of parties and revenge.

 

“Did you see that spell that Harry Potter used against the Slytherins? Do you know what that was?”

 

“I think it’s called the Patronus Charm. I heard that Professor Lupin has been teaching it to him because of what happened at Gryffindor’s last Quidditch game.”

 

The first girl sighed, “I wish Professor Lupin would give me private lessons. He’s so brilliant and handsome.”

 

“I know,” her friend responded, “and he’s so gentle and kind. I don’t understand what he sees in Professor Snape.”

 

Padfoot, who had been amused at hearing the two girls moon over his old friend, froze. What was that about Moony and that greasy git?

 

“I don’t understand it either, but Professor Lupin seems to be happy with him. If only he would look at me the way he looks at Professor Snape,” the first girl sighed again, as she and her friend left the stands and headed back into the castle.

 

That night, when Padfoot entered the castle through one of the secret tunnels, he didn’t head to the Gryffindor Tower. He had been unable to think about anything but the implication of the Ravenclaws’ conversation since he had overheard it. It couldn’t be true. Moony would never get together with that greasy git of a Death Eater, but those girls had seemed so certain. The black dog made his way to the Defense Against Dark Arts office and pushed the door open. As soon as he was inside he knew that he had found the right room. Moony’s scent was all over it. Padfoot pushed the door closed behind him and settled in to wait.

 

Harry woke up late the next morning feeling groggy after the party that had gone on until one in the morning before Professor McGonagall had shut it down. He looked over at Ron’s bed and saw that the other boy was still sleeping peacefully. Harry then thought about Hermione leaving the party in tears and frowned. He wished there was some way to get his friends to make up. If only Hermione would admit that Crookshanks had probably eaten Scabbers and apologized he was sure Ron would be willing to meet her halfway. Ron had said as much the night before. Harry got dressed and went down to breakfast, hoping to meet Hermione there so he could talk to her about it. 

 

Hermione wasn’t in the Great Hall when Harry got there which wasn’t really surprising since it was rather late. Since he hadn’t seen her in the common room, Harry figured that Hermione was probably in the library, working on her homework. Ron arrived at the table before Harry was done eating, still full of the excitement from the day before so Harry decided to leave tackling Hermione for another time. Especially since Hedwig had arrived with a note from Moony suggesting that Harry and his friends have tea with him in his office that afternoon. Harry knew that his dad would be there too and he wanted to have his weekend homework done before his dad could ask him about it. Harry decided to have Neville fetch Hermione while he brought Ron to Moony's office for tea. Once he had both of his friends in the same room with his Dad and Moony he was sure they could get them to work it out.


	12. A Grim in my Office

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sirius confronts Remus in his office.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Italics are direct quotes from the books.

“I’m going to head up to my office now. I have some things to finish up for my classes tomorrow before Harry and the others get there,” Remus got up from his chair as he spoke and grabbed his briefcase from its place by the door.

 

Severus looked up from the magazine he was reading.“You go ahead. I’ll be up there soon. I just want to finish this article first.”

 

Remus entered his office, thinking of his lesson plans for the next day. He closed the door behind him and went to lay his briefcase on the desk, stopping short, and drawing his wand, at the sight of the big, black dog lying in the corner of his office, partially hidden by an armchair. The dog surged to its feet, transforming into Sirius Black as he rose.

 

“Moony!” he cried hoarsely, as he moved around the chair, towards his old friend, stopping short at the sight of the wand in Remus’ hand. “I heard - but it can’t be true! You wouldn’t … not with Snivellus - Moony, say it isn’t so!”

 

Remus cried, “Incarcerous!” and ropes sprang from the end of his wand, twisting themselves around Sirius’s wrists and ankles, causing him to fall backward into the chair behind him. Remus cast the spell again, and more ropes bound Sirius to the chair.

 

“Dobby,” called Remus, ignoring Sirius continued rant about the impossibility of Remus and Severus being a couple.

 

Dobby appeared and bowed to Remus, “Master Remus called Dobby? What can Dobby do for Master Remus? Eeep!” Dobby squeaked at the sight of Sirius bound to the chair, “Master Remus has caught Sirius Black! Dobby is glad that Harry Potter has such a powerful and brave protector!”

 

Remus quickly interrupted Dobby, “Yes, Dobby, I have captured Sirius Black, and now I need you to go and tell Severus for me, please.”

 

“Dobby will go and tell Master right away!”

 

Dobby disappeared again and Remus turned his attention back to his prisoner who had fallen silent at the sight of the house-elf.

 

“Since when did you have a house-elf?” asked Sirius, “or is Dobby one of Hogwarts elves. I suppose as a Professor you would be able to order them about.”

 

“Dobby is Severus’ elf -”

 

“You can call Snivellus’ house-elf! But that would mean! You wouldn’t!” Sirius cried in tones of horror.

 

Green flames sprang up in the fireplace and Severus stepped out.

 

“I see the mutt finally came looking for his old friend,” he sneered. “It will be a pleasure to hand him over to the dementors.”

 

“Now Sev love, remember what we promised -” Remus was interrupted by a howl from Sirius.

 

“You did! Moony, he’s a death eater! How could you betray Lily and James’ memory like that!”

 

Remus lunged at Sirius, and dug his wand into his prisoner’s throat, “You have no right to talk about betrayal. It’s because of you that they’re dead.”

 

Sirius calmed down and looked Remus in the eye, ignoring the wand at his throat, “You’re right, it’s my fault that they’re dead but you don’t know the whole story.” Then something behind Remus caught Sirius’ attention and he began to fight his bonds, “He’s here! Moony let me go! It’s time for me to get my revenge ... I’ve waited so long ...”

 

Remus swung around and saw Harry and Ron standing in the doorway of his office, staring at Sirius. He swung back and lifted his wand.

 

“You will not touch Harry! I think Sev had the right idea after all,” he said.

 

“Moony, no!” cried Harry leaping forward to grab Remus’ wand arm.

 

“Harry’s right, Moony,” said Severus. “We did promise that he would have his chance to question Black first. Ron, shut the door before someone comes by and sees what’s going on.”

 

“Thanks, Dad” said Harry with relief as he let go of Moony’s arm and Ron shut the door. That was the point at which Sirius Black fainted.

 

When Sirius regained consciousness, the office seemed to be full of children. Neville had arrived while he had been unconscious with Hermione in tow. Harry was directly in front of him, flanked by Remus and Severus who had their wands out and pointed at him.

 

_“You killed my parents,” said Harry, his voice shaking slightly._

 

“I don’t deny it,” Sirius said quietly. “But if you knew the whole story.”

 

Severus spoke up, “That’s why we’re here, Black. Tell us why you would betray your best friend and his family? Why did you help the Dark Lord in his quest to kill a mere baby?”

 

“Why do you care, Snivellus? You were one of his lackeys,” Sirius sneered.

 

“ _Severus’_ past is not under discussion. Answer the question.” Remus said firmly.

 

Sirius spoke in a raspy voice, “It’s my fault that Lily and James are dead, but I didn’t betray them. I wasn’t their Secret-Keeper. … At the last minute I persuaded them to change to Peter, persuaded them to use him as Secret-Keeper instead. … _I’m to blame, I know it. … The night they died, I’d arranged to check on Peter, make sure that he was still safe, but when I arrived at his hiding place, he’d gone. Yet there was no sign of a struggle. It didn’t feel right. I was scared. I set out for your parents’ house straight away. And when I saw their house destroyed, and their bodies … I realized what Peter must have done … what I’d done. …” His voice broke. He turned away._

 

“Is that why you killed Peter?” asked Harry. “Because he had betrayed my parents?”

 

“I certainly meant to kill him but I didn’t succeed,” said Sirius in a low voice. “I had him cornered when he yelled for the whole street to hear that I’d betrayed Lily and James. _Then before I could curse him he blew apart the street with the wand behind his back, killed everyone within twenty feet of himself - and sped down into the sewer with the other rats. …”_ Sirius’ voice grew stronger as he went on, “He got away then but he won’t escape me now.”

 

“If you are after Peter again, then why are you here?” Remus asked. “Why did you come to Hogwarts?”

 

Fighting his bonds, Sirius awkwardly pulled a crumpled piece of paper from inside his robes. Moony plucked it out of his hand, and smoothing it flat, he held it out to show the others. It was the photograph of the Weasley’s that had appeared in the Daily Prophet, the previous summer. Scabbers was clearly visible sitting on Ron’s shoulder.

 

“When I saw that I knew him at once,” Sirius rasped. “How many times had I seen Peter transform? And the paper said that the boy was returning to Hogwarts … to where Harry was. …”

 

“How did you get this?” Remus asked.

 

“Fudge,” said Sirius. “When he came to inspect Azkaban last year, he gave me his paper. And there was Peter, on the front page.”

 

“Wait a minute,” Ron blurted out, staring at the picture. “You mean you think Scabbers was this Peter bloke. That’s ridiculous, he’s been in my family for ages -”

 

“Look at the picture again,” rasped Sirius. “Look at his paw.”

 

“My God,” said Remus. “He’s got a toe missing. … Of course, … he cut it off himself?”

 

“Just before he transformed,” confirmed Sirius.

 

“But what’s that got to do with my rat?” demanded Ron.

 

“Don’t you remember what it said in the Daily Prophet, Ron?” asked Hermione. “The biggest bit of Peter Pettigrew that they found, was his finger.”

 

Severus let out a snort. “Are you really buying this nonsense, Moony? What proof do we have that any of this is true? There are all kinds of reasons that the rat could be missing a toe. That doesn’t mean that it’s Pettigrew.”

 

“Ron said that Scabbers had been in his family for a long time. Twelve years in fact. Isn’t that right, Ron? Didn’t you ever wonder why he had lived for so long.”

 

 _“We - we’ve been taking good care of him!” said Ron_ “Anyways, if it’s Scabbers he’s after then he’s too late _._ Scabbers is dead, eaten by her cat,” Ron glared at Hermione.

 

To their surprise, Sirius started to laugh, “Well, faking his own death worked for him once. …”

 

“What do you mean,” said Ron.

 

“That cat, it’s a large orange cat with a face that looks like someone sat on it, right? He never would have eaten the rat, not now. … Not when he’s been helping me, if he had managed to catch Peter he would have brought him to me. He tried to catch Peter but couldn’t, so he stole the passwords to Gryffindor Tower for me. … As I understand it, he took them from a boy’s bedside table. …” Sirius replied.

 

“So, that’s what happened to my list of passwords,” Neville said.

 

“But Peter got wind of what was going on and ran for it. …” croaked Black. “This cat told me that Peter had left blood on the sheets. … I supposed he bit himself. …”

 

“So, Crookshank really didn’t kill Scabbers?” Hermione asked.

 

“Don’t be so eager to take the mutt at his word. What proof is there that any of what he says is true?” Severus said.

 

“There’s one way we can test his story,” pointed out Remus. “Harry do you have the Map.”

 

Harry pulled out the Marauder’s Map and activated it. He spread it out on the desk so that all of Hogwarts could be seen at once, and so the others could help him search it.

 

“If Scabbers really is Peter Pettigrew then his name should appear on this Map. Start by checking the third year Gryffindor boys dorm,” said Remus.

 

“You know I don’t think I’ve ever looked at our dorm on here,” commented Harry. “I guess if I had we might have been saved a lot of trouble.”

 

They studied the map in silence for a while and finally, Neville cried out, “There he is, in the kitchens.” The others looked where Neville was pointing and sure enough Peter Pettigrew was moving around in the kitchens, it looked as if he was skirting the edge of the room, and then the name disappeared.

 

“Where did he go?” asked Harry.

 

“I suspect that he has gone into the walls of the castle,” explained Remus. “He wouldn’t show up there, anymore than the basilisk would have shown up when it was moving through the plumbing, but we did see his name. Peter Pettigrew is still alive.”

 

“So Scabbers is really a wizard named Peter Pettigrew?” Ron stopped short and looked horrified. “Wait a minute, I let Scabbers sleep in my bed …” He trailed off looking rather green.

 

“You see,” said Sirius struggling against the ropes. “Now let me go, Moony. Let me go after that rat. I want to finally commit the murder I was imprisoned for.”

 

“Not so fast,” said Snape. “You might not have killed Pettigrew but I’m still not convinced of your innocence. Not after what you tried to do to me 18 years ago.”

 

“You deserved it,” snarled Sirius. “Sneaking around, trying to find out what we were up to …”

 

Snape raised an eyebrow, “So, because I was curious as to why Madam Pomfrey was taking one of my fellow students to the Whomping Willow, I deserved to be eaten by a werewolf!?”

 

“Wait a minute!” exclaimed Harry. “You tried to feed my dad to Moony?”

 

“No! I never meant James to get involved at all!” Sirius exclaimed. “I just wanted to get that greasy git to stop poking his nose where it didn’t belong.”

 

“Sirius, that ‘greasy git’ _is_ Harry’s dad now,” pointed out Remus dryly, before turning to Harry. “When Severus saw Madam Pomfrey leading me towards the Whomping Willow one evening, Sirius thought it would be - er - amusing to tell Sev that all he had to do was prod the knot on the tree trunk with a long stick, and he’d be able to get in after me. Well, of course, Sev tried it. Fortunately your father, who’d heard what Sirius had done, went after him and pulled him back, at great risk to his own life.”

 

Harry looked horrified. “How could you do something like that?” he asked Sirius. “Even if you didn’t care what happened to Dad, why would you risk putting Moony in that position? You must have known what it would have done to him, if he had actually hurt someone during the full moon.”

 

Sirius looked away from Harry’s accusing gaze. “Snape was poking about looking for dirt on us, like always, trying to get us expelled, and I decided to give him what he was looking for. I figured that if he was stupid enough to go after a suspected werewolf during the full moon he deserved what he got. I … I didn’t really think about what it would do to Moony.”

 

Severus bristled over the implication that he had been stupid. “It wasn’t like I was expecting to find the wolf roaming around free. I would have thought that he would be chained up, or in a cage for the night,” he snapped.

 

Ignoring the Potions Master, Sirius looked up at Harry again. “Harry, you have to believe me. Whatever else I have done, I never betrayed James and Lily. I would have died first before I betrayed them.”

 

Looking at the pleading expression on Sirius’ wasted face, Harry found that he did believe him. Harry nodded mutely, and then looked at his dad.

 

With a sigh Severus said, “Fine let him go. If we’re lucky he’ll be caught going after that rat.”

 

“Severus,” said Moony in a scolding tone, before releasing Sirius from his bonds and pulling him into a hug.

 

“I’m sorry, Padfoot, I should have known that you would never betray James and Lily. Will you forgive me for believing you were the spy?”

 

“Of course, if you’ll forgive me for believing _you_ were the spy.”

 

“Of course,” said Remus. “Now, I believe we have a rat to catch.”


	13. Harry's Dogfather

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Italics are direct quotes from the books.

“How do you propose we try to capture Pettigrew? Finding a single rat in a place this big will be well nigh impossible, even with the Map,” Severus inquired.

 

“I can track him down,” said Sirius grimly.

 

“That sounds like a good idea,” said Severus scathingly. “I’m sure that no one will notice the large black dog roaming the castle.”

 

Sirius bristled. “I haven’t been caught yet,” he snarled, “I’ll search for the rat tonight. Now that he’s no longer hiding in Gryffindor Tower I’m sure that I’ll have no trouble finding him.”

 

“You do what you want, but I will not be a part of this rat hunt,” Severus said. “Moony, I trust that you will explain things to the mutt?”

 

Without waiting for a response he swept out of the office, stopping in the doorway to add, “I believe that there are some others who are waiting for an explanation as well,” with a nod towards Ron, Hermione, and Neville, before closing the door behind him.

 

Remus looked at the three children, who were silently staring at him.

 

Ron shook himself and spoke, “Blimey, you’re a werewolf!?

 

“I can’t believe I didn’t see it before, your boggart wasn’t a crystal ball, it was the moon. And all those times you were absent, it was always on the full moon wasn’t it?” said Hermione, shakily.

 

“Yes, Hermione. The night of the full moon and usually the day after as well. The transformation is not like the voluntary one of an animagus, it is quite painful and leaves me exhausted the next day. I’m sure you would have figured it out when we reached the chapter on werewolves in class.”

 

“So, you were planning on covering werewolves? I wasn’t sure if you were going to.” said Harry.

 

“It would be remiss of me to leave out a part of the curriculum just because it may cause me problems to cover it,” answered Remus. “I was planning to leave it until the end of the year, though. I would hate to be unable to finish out the year because too many of my students figured it out, and I was forced to quit.”

 

“Aren’t werewolves dangerous during the full moon?” asked Neville, hesitatingly.

 

“Don’t worry, Neville. As long as Moony takes his Wolfsbane Potion he’s perfectly safe,” Harry assured his friend. “Dad usually stays with him during the full moon, and nothing’s happened to him yet.”

 

“The Potion enables a werewolf to retain his mind when he transforms, instead of being taken over completely by the wolf,” explained Remus. “Severus learned about the Wolfsbane Potion, as it was being developed, and has made it for me every month since it was perfected.”

 

Remus looked over at Sirius as he spoke and Neville suddenly moved towards the door, saying, “I think we’d better get going. We’ve got a lot of homework still to get finished.”

 

“Right, lots of homework. I really shouldn’t have left it for this long,” agreed Hermione. “Come on Ron.”

 

Hauling Ron along with them Hermione and Neville left the room. As Harry was about to follow them Sirius called him back.

 

“Harry, if we catch Pettigrew and turn him in. … Well, I don’t know if anyone ever told you, but I’m your godfather. Your parents appointed me your guardian, if anything happened to them. ...”

 

Harry waited, hoping this wasn’t going were he thought it was.

 

“I don’t know how you ended up with Snape, but I’m sure it hasn’t been easy living with him. Once my names cleared you wouldn’t need to stay with him anymore, you could come live with me. Moony too of course, if he wants to. …” Sirius trailed off as Harry glared at him.

 

“Leave Dad, and come live with you.” Harry said flatly. “Are you insane!? I just met you! And how dare make assumptions about what my life has been like! Dad and Moony have been the best parents I’ve could have hoped for! Dad didn’t have to take me in but he did, because he wanted me to be safe, and happy, and I’m glad he did!”

 

Harry turned on his heel and stalked out of the room, muttering angrily to himself. The room was silent as Sirius stared at the door that Harry had slammed shut behind himself. Finally, Moony gave a small laugh and said.

 

“He’s always had a bit of a temper. You probably should have waited a bit before you sprang that one on him. I’ll talk to him later, when he’s had a bit of time to calm down again, and I’m sure he’ll give you another chance. Just don’t bring up the idea of him leaving Severus again, as you just saw he won’t take that well.”

 

Sirius turned to Remus, “How can you be ok with this? Harry can’t possibly be either safe or happy living with that Death Eater! I’m surprised that he hasn’t finish the boy off already, but I suppose he’s waiting to hand Harry over to Voldemort when he returns.”

 

Remus frowned, “I thought the same thing when I followed Harry’s scent to a house in Muggle London, and Severus answered the door, but then he told me why he had taken Harry from those Muggles. Apparently, they had shut Harry up in a cupboard, and his uncle had treated him so badly that he started to cry when I called myself Uncle Moony. He obviously couldn’t go back there, and Severus was the only other option that would offer him the same level of safety.”

 

“What makes Snivellus such a safe option for Harry?”

 

“Dumbledore used the power of Lily’s sacrifice to create Blood Wards that would keep Harry safe as long as he was living with someone who shared Lily’s blood. That’s why he left Harry with Lily’s sister and her husband, even though they were muggles, he thought that they were the only family of Lily’s that were left. But it turns out that Severus and Lily had created a Blood Bond, when they were at Hogwarts, that made them siblings, so the Blood Wards work just as well when Harry is living with Severus. It was those Blood Wards that protected Harry in his encounter with Voldemort at the end of his first year.”

 

“Harry faced Voldemort in first year?” Sirius asked, startled.

 

Remus sighed, “Yes, and in second year as well. I’m just glad that this year’s threat turned out to be a false alarm.”

 

Remus then filled an increasingly horrified Sirius in on the events of the last two years. After that he explained Severus’ change of heart during the last war and the role he had played in it. As well as his plans to take up that role again when Voldemort managed to rise to power once more. When he was done Sirius looked thoughtful.

 

“That’s pretty gutsy. I guess I can see why you fell for him?” Sirius said reluctantly.

 

Remus snorted, “Severus and I aren’t really a couple, Sirius. Our neighbours made an assumption about me moving in with Sev and Harry, and you know how I can’t resist a good joke. I managed to convince Sevvie to go along with it, and we’ve essentially pranked the entire school, even the other professors are convinced.”

 

“That’s a relief, I was beginning to question your taste in men. I mean, Snivellus, I’m sure you could do better, Moony.”

 

“Sirius, I may not be in a romantic relationship with Sev, but he is my friend. I would appreciate it if you would drop the juvenile nickname and at least attempt to get along with him,” Remus said sternly. “Harry’s not likely to take well to you insulting his dad like that, either.

 

“I’ll try if he will, but I won’t put up with his sneers and insults,” Sirius declared.

 

Despite Padfoot patrolling the castle halls every night that week, he was unable to flush out the rat. They enlisted the help of Dobby and the Hogwarts house-elves as well, but there was no sign of Peter other than the occasional glimpse of his name on the map, as he moved about the castle. On Friday, Harry saw Peter’s name out on the castle grounds near Hagrid’s hut and passed the news onto Moony after his DADA class. Moony promised to let Sirius know so he could hunt down the rat, now that he was no longer hiding in the castle walls.

 

The next morning, Harry woke Ron and Neville up bright and early, and dragged them out of bed.

 

“Why are you in such a hurry,” grumbled Ron as he followed Harry out of the common room, bundled in his warm cloak and scarf. “We’re not leaving for Hogsmeade for hours yet.”

 

“Don’t you remember that I saw Peter out on the castle grounds, yesterday. I want to find out if Padfoot got him, come on.”

 

Soon the three boys were crossing the grounds towards the edge of the Forbidden Forest, where they saw a familiar black dog waiting for them. When they got close, Padfoot lead them deeper into the Forest, until they were out of sight of the castle.

 

“Did you get him?” asked Harry, once they came to a stop in a small clearing.

 

Padfoot transformed and slumped against a tree. “No, he went to ground in Hagrid’s hut and I couldn’t get in after him. There was no way I would have been able to get by Fang without waking Hagrid, and Wormtail would have just escaped again in the confusion.”

 

Harry pulled out the map and activated it.

 

“It doesn’t look like he’s in Hagrid’s hut now.”

 

“He probably slipped out again when Hagrid got up and saw me hanging around. Fang wanted to play and it would have been easy for Wormtail to slip past me then. I found his trail, once I got away from Fang and Hagrid and I think he was heading towards Hogsmeade so I’m going to try to hunt him down again once we’re done talking.”

 

Wormtail had indeed left a trail heading towards Hogsmeade, but had doubled back along it by the time Padfoot had turned back towards the castle after finding the trail. And the rat was currently watching from a hidden spot in the Forest undergrowth, as Sirius talked to the boys. Listening to their conversation he realized that there was no point to him hanging around Hogwarts, now that Ron knew what he was. There was only one thing left for him to do. He had overheard many useful conversations, while sneaking around Hogwarts over the last two years, and he knew where to start his search for his master. If he could ingratiate himself with the Dark Lord by helping him return to power, then the other Death Eaters would be unable to touch him, and he would be safe, but first he had to escape the mutt.

 

Disappointed by Sirius’ lack of success in capturing Pettigrew, the three boys headed back into the castle. They decided to go back to the Tower to get Hermione before heading to breakfast. On their way they met up with Professor Trelawney wandering the halls.

 

“Hello, Professor,” said Neville politely as they approached her.

 

“Hello, I found myself awake unusually early this morning and I felt the fates telling me that I should join my fellow Professors in the Great Hall for breakfast this morning,” the diminutive witch informed them, blinking at them through her thick glasses.

 

As the boys passed her, she suddenly reached out and grabbed Harry’s arm with a strength that was at odds with her frail physique. Before the boys could react she began to speak in a deep, harsh voice, that was entirely like her usual high twitter.

 

_ “It will happen tonight. The Dark Lord lies alone and friendless, abandoned by his followers. His servant has been chained these twelve years. Tonight, before midnight… the servant will break free and set out to rejoin his master. The Dark Lord will rise again with his servant’s aid, greater and more terrible that ever he was. Tonight … before midnight … the servant … will set out … to rejoin ... his master …” _

 

Then Professor Trelawney’s head fell forward onto her chest and she made a grunting sort of noise. Harry, Ron and Neville stared at Trelawney as she suddenly lifted her head again and blinked at them. She let go of Harry’s arm and spoke in her normal tones.

 

“Oh dear, I feel most peculiar. I’m so sorry dear boy, I do believe I came over quite faint for a moment there. I must be coming down with something. I think that I had better return to my tower and lie down for a while.”

 

They stared after her as she wandered off. It wasn’t until the Divination Professor had disappeared around the corner that they continued towards the portrait of the Fat Lady.

 

“That was bloody weird,” commented Ron as he climbed through the portrait hole.

 

“Do you think that could have been a prophecy?” asked Neville. “I’ve heard that seers are often unaware of having spoken when it is a true prophecy.”

 

“Is what a prophecy?” inquired Hermione as she joined them.

 

Harry explained about the encounter with Professor Trelawney and repeated what she had said, with the occasional correction from the other two. Hermione snorted when they were done.

 

“Trelawney must be a better actor than I thought. She’s obviously been working on that since the beginning of the year. I mean, come on, the Dark Lord’s servant who’s been chained for twelve years, she must be talking about Sirius Black and we know that there’s no way he’s running off to help You-Know-Who come back.”

 

“I suppose you’re right,” said Harry. “Although, it really didn’t seem like she was acting.”

 

“Oh, who cares,” Ron grumbled. “Come on let’s go get some breakfast. Someone had me up much too early this morning, and I’m starving.”


	14. Hogsmeade

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Italics are direct quotes from the books.

After breakfast, Ron, Harry, Hermione and Neville put on their cloaks and went to meet Remus and Severus at the castle entrance, ready to head off to Hogsmeade.

 

“I can’t believe you’re dragging me off on another babysitting expedition,” Severus said sourly as the children joined them and they left the castle.

 

“At least the weather is better this time,” said Remus cheerfully, taking Severus’ hand.

 

The four teenagers walked in front of their professors, eagerly discussing where they wanted to go in Hogsmeade. Finally they decided to start with the post office, Harry was impressed by the number and variety of owls that were there. After the post office they visited Zonko’s again, Harry and Ron had gone through most of the things they had bought there during the previous visit and wanted to stock up. They assured Hermione that all their purchases were completely necessary. After all with the twins around they needed some way to hold their own in the ongoing prank wars.

 

“Remember that I am aware of what items you have purchased, Weasley and Potter. I hope that none of them will make an appearance in any of my classes.” Snape said dryly as they left the shop.

 

After assuring their teachers that the Zonko products would not be used in class, Ron led the others towards the Shrieking Shack, saying that it was too nice a day to spend indoors. On their way there they were joined by Padfoot, who fell in beside Remus.

 

“Did you catch that rat you were hunting?” Harry asked the dog.

 

Padfoot shook his head and whined.

 

“Don’t worry, Pads. We’ll find a way to clear your name, even if we can’t find that rat.” Remus comforted him.

 

A silence fell over the group, as they finished the climb up the slope to the dilapidated building they were headed to.

 

“The Shrieking Shack is the most haunted building in Britain,” said Hermione as they stood looking at it.

 

“Nearly Headless Nick told me that even the Hogwarts ghosts avoid it,” agreed Ron. “He’s heard that a very rough crowd lives here. Fred and George tried to get in, of course, but they couldn’t. All the entrances are sealed shut. No one can get in. …”

 

Padfoot’s jaw dropped in a dog’s smile as he looked up at Remus, who was gazing at the building with an unreadable expression on his face. Remus looked down at the big black dog and smiled back.

 

“That’s because the only entrance to the shack is through a tunnel that starts below the Whomping Willow on the school grounds,” he said. “I was smuggled through that tunnel into the Shack to transform, every month. That’s where the rumours of the Shrieking Shack being haunted came from. You see it is very painful to become a werewolf, deprived of humans to bite, I bit and scratched myself instead. The villagers heard the noise and the screaming and thought they were hearing particularity violent spirits. Dumbledore encouraged the rumours … When my friends figured it out, I was afraid that they would desert me but instead they figured out a way to help me, they became Animagi so they could stay with me when I transformed.”

 

The children looked at him in surprise but before they say anything, they heard voices coming from the other side of the hill. Soon Draco appeared, followed closely by Crabbe and Goyle as usual.

 

“...notice that the hippogriff isn’t around anymore. Father said that the Ministry acted much faster than usual on this case because we’re such an important family, and I was so seriously injured ... unable to use my arm for three months. I wish I could have heard that hairy oaf try to defend him -”

 

Draco stopped short as he caught sight of the group by the Shack. Harry grinned at him.

 

“It’s a nice day, isn’t it, Draco. Much better than the last Hogsmeade weekend. It took me forever to defrost when we got back to the school that day.”

 

“Potter,” Draco said stiffly in reply.

 

Ignoring the others he turned to his godfather.

 

“Uncle Severus, what are you doing here with this rabble?”

 

“Remus volunteered to accompany Potter, to keep him safe from Sirius Black, and he dragged me along,” Severus replied with a glare at Remus. At the mention of Sirius Black the large black dog at Remus’ feet gave a huff that sounded suspiciously like a laugh.

 

“You don’t fool me, love,” said Remus fondly. “I know that you’re enjoying yourself, it’s a such beautiful day for an outing.”

 

“I would be enjoying myself if there weren’t so many Gryffindors cluttering up the landscape.” Severus said with a smirk.

 

As the professors were talking to each other, Draco strolled over to Harry and his friends and looked up at the crumbling house behind them.

 

 _“Suppose you’d love to live here, wouldn’t you, Weasley? Dreaming about having your own bedroom? I heard that your family all sleep in one room - is that true?”_ he said in a low voice, so that the adults wouldn’t hear him.

 

Hermione and Neville grabbed Ron to keep him from launching himself at Draco.

 

“If you’d ever been to the Weasley’s you’d know how foolish you sound, Draco,” Harry said in a disappointed voice. “The Burrow may not be as large as Malfoy Manor but it is quite big enough for their family. You really shouldn’t talk about things that you don’t know anything about.”

 

Draco flushed angrily but before he could respond, Padfoot ran up to him along the path and reared up on his hind legs, planting his large, and very muddy, paws on Draco’s shoulders, and started enthusiastically licking the blond boys face.

 

“What are you doing? Get off of him!” Severus exclaimed. “Moony, can’t you control the mutt.”

 

“Snuffles, come here,” Remus called.

 

Padfoot dropped down from Draco and then ran back over to Remus and sat down at his feet again, looking rather pleased with himself. Remus looked down at him.

 

“You know better than that,” he scolded and the dog looked up at him with an offended look. “Don’t give me that look. I know what he said, but Harry had it handled, and you should be setting a good example for the kids, not acting in such a juvenile manner.”

 

Padfoot gave a offended huff and stalked over to Ron. Settling at the boys feet he gave his hand a sympathetic lick before glaring at Remus and Severus again. Ron patted him on the head.

 

“Thanks, Snuffles. _I’m_ glad that you stood up for me.”

 

Severus raised an eyebrow at Remus, “Snuffles?”

 

Remus shrugged, “He likes the name for some reason. Don’t ask me why.” He turned his attention to Draco. “I’m sorry about Snuffles. I don’t think he liked how you were talking to Ron. He’s rather mischievous and is very protective of the people he likes.”

 

Draco gave him a dubious look. “He’s just a dog. How could he know what I said to Weasley? And I didn’t say anything wrong, anyways.”

 

“It’s obvious from Ron’s reaction that you were taunting him, Draco.”

 

“Weasley has a temper to go with his hair, and regularly overreacts to innocent remarks. Especially when Draco is involved,” sneered Severus as he removed the mud from Draco’s robes with a wave of his wand. “I’m sure that you have had opportunities to observe this for yourself, Remus. Although, I shouldn’t be surprised that you assumed that the Slytherin is at fault. Once a Gryffindor, always a Gryffindor.”

 

“Draco was insulting Ron’s home, Professor,” said Hermione.

 

“I was not! I just asked a few questions, that’s all, I didn’t mean anything by it. Besides, everyone knows how poor the Weasley’s are, I just assumed …”

 

“Whether you meant anything by it or not, you upset Ron,” Harry said. “I think you should apologize.”

 

Draco sneered at Harry, and then reluctantly apologized to Ron, when he saw the expression on Harry’s face. He remembered the conversation in the infirmary the year before, and he decided it was easier just to do what Harry wanted and skip the lecture. Harry then turned to Padfoot.

 

“Snuffles, you need to apologize to Draco, too.”

 

Padfoot huffed and then slowly walked towards Draco. When was almost there he dropped down onto his belly, dragging himself the last couple of inches, to look up at Draco with big eyes and drooping ears. He held that posture for a moment, whining pitifully, and then stood up again and shook himself, before trotting back over to Remus, to sit at his feet again. Draco stared after him.

 

“That’s a weird dog,” he muttered and then he turned to his Godfather. “Goodbye, Uncle Severus. Good luck dealing with the Gryffindors.” Draco stalked off, with Crabbe and Goyle right behind him.

 

After the Slytherin’s left, Harry looked around to make sure there wasn’t anyone in earshot and then said, “We should find somewhere where we can talk. I want to find out why Snuffles wasn’t able to catch that rat.”

 

Padfoot barked and then ran down the path, turning to look back at the others and bark again to get them to follow him. Once he was sure that they were coming, Padfoot ran ahead of them, eventually leading them to the Hogsmeade train station. At the train station he started sniffing around, apparently following a scent trail that led from Hogwarts’ grounds to the edge of the tracks, where he whined and started casting around for the trail. After circling the spot at the tracks that he had reached, he turned to the others, the picture of dejection.

 

“I think he followed Pettigrew’s trial from Hagrid’s hut to hear and then lost it at the train tracks,” speculated Harry. “Was there a train here this morning.”

 

“There is a train that leaves this station early Saturday morning,” Severus confirmed. “Pettigrew must have managed to get on board the train while it was in the station. I’m afraid that he’s long gone by now.”

 

When Severus was done speaking Padfoot turned and ran into the woods near the train station. Harry and his friends ran in after him, followed by Remus and Severus. The party disappeared into the shadows beneath the trees, to find Sirius pacing back and forth, muttering to himself. When the others reached him, he burst into speech.

 

“I can’t believe he got away from me again! I should have had him! That rat needs to pay for betraying James and Lily!” Sirius yelled. Suddenly he stopped pacing, and looked at Harry, “And worst of all, without Pettigrew we have no way of proving my innocence! I’m sorry, Harry. I had hoped that I could finally get to take care of you like I was supposed to be doing all along.”

 

“We’d better get back to the castle, so I can inform Albus of what has happened,” Severus said. “Given that he knows how I feel about you, I’m sure that he will be willing to take my word about your innocence. You will still need to remain in hiding from the Ministry, but I have an idea about how to manage that. For now you should be able to go on as you have been, at least until the end of the school year.”

 

“A trip to arrange a sighting somewhere away from the school would be a good idea, though,” Remus said. “If you allow a Muggle to see you in some other location, that should draw the dementors away from the school and ease the restrictions on Harry’s movements. I’ll take you to our house in London by Floo to start with. And Sirius, whatever plan Severus has in mind for hiding you after the end of June, we will make sure that you will be able to keep in touch with Harry.”

 

Sirius brightened, “Thank you, Moony.” He hesitated and then thanked Severus as well.

 

Severus nodded in acknowledgement of his thanks and then turned and headed out of the woods and back to the castle grounds, followed by Moony and the children and a large black dog.

 

By midnight that night, Wormtail was on the continent, having completed the first step of his journey towards Albania. Once he found his way there, he planned to question the local rat population to find Voldemort. Soon he would bring back the Dark Lord and take his place as his Master’s favoured servant. Then he would no longer have to worry about either the Death Eaters, or his old friends, the power of the Dark Lord would protect him.


	15. Valentine's Day

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Severus and Remus celebrate Valentine's Day.

Severus was in a bad mood as he headed to breakfast Monday morning. The headmaster had been unavailable all weekend so he hadn’t been able to talk to him about the situation with Sirius Black and Peter Pettigrew yet. Not that he was in any hurry to make Black’s life any easier, but he didn’t enjoy wasting his time hunting around for Albus when the man was being elusive. To top it off, Remus had been out of the castle all day on Sunday, Severus supposed that he had been off with the mutt, and he had already been up and out of their quarters when Severus woke up, so they hadn’t had a chance to talk about what they were going to do with Black at the end of the school year, yet. He was sure that Remus would approve of his plan but he was still unsure of how well it would work. Severus didn’t have a lot of hope that the mutt would be willing to go along with his conditions.

 

Severus’ mood lightened as he entered the Great Hall and saw Albus sitting at the high table. He headed over to the headmaster to request a meeting later in the day, after he was done with his classes. With that accomplished he turned to his seat and stopped short, there was a large bouquet of flowers at his place at the table, accompanied by an even larger heart-shaped box of chocolates. Severus realized that with all that had happened over the past week he had completely forgotten what day of the month it was. He had known that Remus wouldn’t be able to resist some kind of display on Valentines Day, he was just glad it was at breakfast, where there was a smaller audience than there would be at lunch and dinner.

 

Remus looked up to greet his friend with a grin as Severus finally took the last couple of steps to his usual place at the table and sat down. Severus’ frown gradually melted into a pleased smile as he took a closer look at the bouquet that Remus had put together for him with Professor Sprout and Hagrid’s help. Every flower in it had some use as a potion ingredient and they all had been carefully harvested, and had a stasis spell placed on them so that they would remain fresh, as if they had just been picked, until Severus was ready to use them. Severus then lifted the lid of the box of chocolates and inspected the contents. His pleased smile grew amused as he noted that the box was filled with an assortment of Remus and Harry’s favourite flavours, as well as his own. Shrinking the box and slipping it into his pocket he thank Remus for his thoughtfulness.

 

“I’m afraid you will have to wait for your own gift, it isn’t quite ready yet.”

 

Remus smirked, “You forgot what day it was didn’t you? That’s ok, as I can see you noticed, I got the chocolates for myself as well.”

 

“You’re right, with everything that’s happened this past week I lost track of the days but I do have a gift for you. I’ll give it to you at lunch.”

 

As Severus started eating his breakfast, Remus continued in a teasing voice. “I’m glad you liked your gift. I had considered borrowing one of Lockhart’s dwarves instead, after all I didn’t want to be shown up by last year’s secret admirer, but in the end I decided that the flowers and chocolates were enough. They are classics for a reason after all.’

 

Severus choked on his food and glared at the werewolf. Remus laughed and said, “It’s probably just as well that I changed my mind. I hate to think what you would have slipped into my food for that one. Though it might have been worth it for the look on your face.”

 

“Trust me, I would have made sure that you did _not_ consider it worth it by the time I was done,” responded Severus. “There is a lot that can be done to someone without causing any lasting damage. It is good to see that even a Gryffindor can choose the path of discretion, occasionally.”

 

Severus finished his breakfast quickly and headed down to his classroom. Carefully putting the bouquet on his desk he called Dobby so he could get the house elf’s help in preparing the presentation of his Valentine’s Day gift for Remus at lunch. Shortly after Dobby left, the first class of the day started to enter the room, and Severus carefully concealed his amusement at the student’s reactions to the bouquet on his desk. Most of the girls thought that the bouquet and chocolates were very romantic, but the boys were less impressed, particularly those with girlfriends who had let it be known that they had expectations of a similar gesture from their boyfriends in the spirit of the holiday.

 

Severus dismissed his last class of the morning promptly at the end of the class period and made his way to the Great Hall. He was pleased to see that his gift had been arranged at Remus’ place exactly as he had instructed Dobby. Wrapped in a stark black paper, the gift lay beside Remus’ plate with a single, perfectly dried, rose placed on it, the rose was a dark red, so dark that it almost appeared to be black. Remus’ lips twitched with amusement as he carefully lifted the rose and examined it.

 

“A dead flower, love?” he asked as he placed the rose in the slender vase that sat behind his plate waiting for it.

 

“All cut flowers are dead, Moony. This one is just a little more so than most,” Severus calmly replied.

 

Remus chuckled. “You seem to be having some difficulty in getting into the spirit of the day,” he commented, as he started to unwrap his gift.

 

“I’m just doing things with my usual flair,” Severus said, dryly.

 

Remus finished carefully removing the wrapping paper to find a notebook with a Gryffindor red cover that was illustrated with a reclining golden lion and a green and silver snake that lay coiled beside, and over the lion, the snake’s head resting across the lion’s neck, facing the front of the book. When Remus touched the book’s cover, the two creatures lifted their heads and looked at him briefly, the snake tasting the air with its tongue, they then settled back into their relaxed state.

 

“If anyone unauthorized touches this book, the guardians reaction would not be so … benign,” Severus informed his friend.

 

Remus opened the book and found the inside of the cover had an illustration of a fine, black quill, made from a raven’s feather and a small ink pot.

 

“Touch the quill and ink pot,” instructed Severus.

 

When Remus touched them, they emerged from the page, and sat ready to be used.

 

“Think of the colour that you would like to use when you write with this ink and it will become that colour.”

 

Remus picked up the quill, noticing that it fit his hand perfectly and dipped it in the pot of ink. Writing his name on the first page of the notebook he was delighted to see that it was the exact shade of red that he had been picturing. He was also pleased to see that the ink dried almost instantly, reducing the chance of smudging.

 

“If you draw your finger over something that you have written and think of a different colour, it will change to that new colour.” Severus drew his finger across Remus’ name, and it turned green, as his finger passed over it. “The ink pot will never run dry, as it is spelled to refill from a vat of the same ink that is sitting in my private storeroom.”

 

Remus smiled as he placed the ink pot and quill back on the page they had emerged from and watched them become an illustration, once more. He loved to colour code his research notes, to make reviewing the information easier, and he had often wished that he could easily change to colour of various notes as he found that the information often fit together differently as he gathered more of it. He had never before heard of an ink with those properties and he was sure that the potions master had developed it himself.

 

“Thank you, Severus,” he said warmly, “This must have taken you a while to make.”

 

“You obviously spent a lot of time on that bouquet you gave me this morning, so I would say that we’re even. Now I would suggest that you eat your lunch before it gets cold.”

 

Remus turned to the rare steak that had appeared on his plate while he was examining his gift. It was cooked just the way he liked it and he was sure that Dobby had been the one to prepare it since the Hogwarts elves always cooked the meat more well done than he prefered. Remus wondered how Dobby and Severus had been able to manage that since he was well aware of how territorial the house elves that worked in the Hogwarts kitchens could be.

 

The afternoon classes passed quickly and soon Severus was on his way to the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom to meet up with Remus, before heading to Dumbledore’s office. When they got to the gargoyle that guarded the entrance to the Headmaster’s office, Severus gave the password and they stepped onto the moving staircase that was revealed when the gargoyle moved aside. The door at the top of the stairs swung open as they reached the top and Severus strode through, with Remus right behind him.

 

“Severus, my dear boy, and Remus, have a seat,” Albus greeted them, waving to the comfortable armchairs placed in front of his desk. “Would you like a lemon sherbert? Some tea?”

 

Severus irritatedly waved away the candy, but accepted the cup of tea as he sat down. Remus settled into the chair beside him, accepting both.

 

“Albus, Black finally tried to contact Remus, as I suspected he would,” Severus said.

 

Dumbledore started to his feet, “You’ve seen Sirius Black? Where?”

 

“We know where he is, but you should talk to him before he is handed over to the dementors,” Remus explained. “Sirius told me that he wasn’t James and Lily’s secret keeper, Peter was. That’s why Sirius went after him. Peter caused the explosion and slipped into the sewers, leaving behind a finger that he had cut off himself. He then went into hiding with an unsuspecting wizarding family, disguised as their son’s pet rat.” Remus took a deep breath and continued, “Peter is an unregistered Animagus, as is Sirius. Peter’s animagus form is a rat and Sirius’ is a large black dog. That’s how Peter escaped and hid these past 12 years and that’s how Sirius has been able to avoid the dementors. The other Marauders became Animagi in our fifth year so that they could spend the night of the full moon with me safely.”

 

Remus avoided Professor Dumbledore’s gaze. He still felt guilty for the way he and his friends had betrayed the man’s trust in him, after everything that Dumbledore had done to allow him to attend Hogwarts. Dumbledore turned to Severus questioningly.

 

“I have seen proof that Pettigrew is still alive and at Hogwarts, although he unfortunately escaped before we could capture him. I have to admit I can’t think of any reason the man would have stayed in hiding for the past twelve years, unless Black’s story is true. I am, of course, willing to provide Veritaserum for when you question Black if you would like, Albus.”

 

“I don’t believe that will be necessary, Severus, but I would like to talk to the man myself. Can you bring me to him?”

 

“Of course, Albus. He is hiding in the Forbidden Forest near Hagrid’s hut and he is expecting us.”

 

As the three wizards headed out of the castle to talk to Sirius, Severus reflected that it was turning out to be a remarkably good day, for one that had started out so poorly. Now if only Sirius remembered not to tell Dumbledore about his and Harry’s relationship.

 

A short while later, in the Forbidden Forest, Severus felt himself relax as Albus finished questioning Sirius, the mutt hadn’t let anything slip about Harry’s living situation. He knew that Albus would find out eventually but Severus was just as glad not to have to deal with the fallout from that revelation, yet. He turned his attention back to the headmaster, pushing all thoughts of Harry from his mind.

 

“Without Pettigrew we have no chance of establishing your innocence, I’m afraid,” said Dumbledore when Sirius had finished his story. “You must remain hidden, for now. Although if you were to let yourself be seen somewhere well away from Hogwarts, I would be glad of the excuse to rid the school of the Dementor's presence. Now we just need to find a safe place for you to go until I can find a way to clear your name.”

 

Severus spoke up, “He can come and live with me and Remus. Our house is in a muggle neighbourhood, so he should be able to hide in plain sight by using a glamour to alter his appearance.”

 

Dumbledore looked at Severus in surprise, “That is most generous of you, my dear boy.”

 

Severus scowled, and went on, speaking directly to Sirius, “I do have a couple of conditions. First of all, I will not be insulted in my own home, so you _will_ cease to use that juvenile nickname, that you are so fond of.”

 

“I’m sure that Sirius will be on his best behaviour,” Remus interjected.

 

“I will, if he will,” declared Sirius. “I’m not going to just sit back and let him insult me, but if Snape is polite then I will be as well.”

 

“That is acceptable to me,” Severus said. “My other condition is that you must see a mind healer. I know one whom we can trust to be discrete. I once developed a potion for her and she seems to believe that she owes me a favour for it, so she should be willing to come to my house to see you.” Severus glared at Sirius, who looked like he was about to protest. “This is non-negotiable. Your behaviour on Halloween demonstrated how unstable you are, and I am not willing to put myself, or Remus, or anyone else who is in my house, to be endangered by your refusal to deal with your issues.”

 

Sirius wilted at the reminder of his actions when the Fat Lady had refused to let him into the Gryffindor tower. As much as he hated to admit it, Snape was right that he wasn’t the most stable person, at the moment. At the subtle reminder that Harry would be there as well, Sirius gave in. “I’ll talk to your mind healer,” he growled and then he reluctantly added, “Thank you for your generous offer, Snape.”

 

“No need to strain yourself, thanking me,” Severus sneered. “I’m doing this for Remus, not you.

 

Dumbledore beamed, “I’m so glad to see that you boys are willing to look past your differences, and try to get along. Now that that’s settled, we’d better get back to the castle. It’s almost time for supper.”


	16. Chapter 16

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sirius lures the dementors from the castle and returns in time to keep Remus company during the next full moon.

Ten days later, Sirius had been seen by Muggles in several locations, each one farther from Hogwarts castle than the last. Dumbledore easily convinced Minister Fudge that it was no longer necessary to keep the dementors posted around the castle, seeing as Sirius Black was no longer in the area. The removal of the dark creatures from the area brought a sense of lightness to the atmosphere of the castle, the absence of their oppressive presence making it obvious how much they had affected everyone there. That evening Harry cast his first ever Corporeal Patronus, a stag that left Remus choked up as he noticed its resemblance to James’ animagus form.

 

The next morning, the news of the latest sighting of Sirius and the removal of the dementors from Hogwarts was on the front page of the Daily Prophet. Harry and his friends were looking at the paper when Draco Malfoy strolled over, flanked by Crabbe and Goyle as usual.

 

“What was that you were saying earlier this year, Potter? Something about laying a trap for Sirius Black, wasn’t it? It seems that you weren’t very successful, were you?”

 

Harry looked up at Draco and grinned, “You’re right, Draco. I guess I just didn’t take pursuing my revenge on Black  _ seriously _ enough, he was less  _ dogged _ in his pursuit of me than I expected.”

 

Draco gaped at Harry as Ron and Neville snorted, “Did you just …?”

 

“At least the professors won’t feel they need to  _ dog _ your steps anymore, Harry,” said Neville, smiling.

 

“You’re right, I’m glad I won’t be  _ hounded _ by the teachers for taking a stroll across the grounds after dark anymore,” Harry said as his smile widened. “Things don’t look so  _ grim  _ now.”

 

“It’s almost as if Black smelled a  _ rat _ and realized that he was  _ barking _ up the wrong tree by going after you,” chuckled Ron.

 

“And now the traitor has run off like a  _ rat _ leaving a sinking ship, like the coward he is,” added Neville starting to laugh.

 

“He had better run, or his future will be very  _ Black _ . He’s in  _ serious  _ trouble now that he’s been  _ ratted  _ out,” Harry laughed.

 

“I’ll bet Black is  _ barking _ mad over the failure of his plans,” Ron managed to gasp out through his own laughter.

 

Harry laughed even harder, “Sirius Black would be  _ howling  _ if he could hear us now.”

 

“Well, he is rather  _ grim _ ,” Neville said, tears starting to run down his face.

 

Draco finally managed to pick his jaw off the floor enough to burst into speech, “The whole lot of you are completely insane! What is so funny about any of this! Your plan to capture the mass murderer who betrayed your parents has failed and all you can do is laugh!”

 

Harry sobered and his smile turned sharp as he stood up from the table and faced Draco, “In the end my parent’s betrayer has chosen the losing side, and he’ll eventually  _ riddle _ that out for himself, and that will be better than any  _ petty  _ revenge I could come up with. I find that I’m quite content with how things played out and we could all use a good laugh.” His smile smoothed out and Harry moved to sling an arm over Draco’s shoulder, “Even you Draco, lighten up, the dementors are gone and we can finally breathe again.”

 

Roughly shrugging Harry's arm off of his shoulder, Draco stalked back to his table. Once again, his attempt to humiliate Harry and bring him down a peg, had left him feeling off balance and wrong footed. Draco could not understand the boy-who-lived-to-annoy-him, he would never react the way he was supposed to.

 

That evening, Remus slipped out of the castle, and stopped for a moment to enjoy the peaceful atmosphere, free of the taint of the dementors presence. The sense of relief and happiness was almost palpable, even Severus had almost stopped snapping at the students. Remembering that he had a deadline, Remus hurried across the castle grounds to the Whomping Willow. Quickly stunning the Willow, the werewolf disappeared into the tunnel revealed beneath its roots. To Remus’ relief, he found Sirius waiting for him in the Shrieking Shack, at the other end of the passage.

 

“I’m glad you were able to make it back before the full moon, Padfoot,” Remus greeted his friend, pulling him into a hug.

 

“It probably wouldn’t have been possible if Dumbledore hadn’t lent me Buckbeak. That hippogriff can really fly,” Sirius grinned at this friend. “Are you ready for another adventure? I can’t tell you how much I’ve been looking forward to this.”

 

Remus looked troubled, “The Wolfsbane Potion leaves me pretty sleepy when I transform. I’m not sure if I’ll be up for an adventure.”

 

Sirius shrugged, “If you want to sleep, that’s ok, too. I’m getting a bit old for spending the night roaming the castle grounds, anyways.” He smiled at his friend, “The main thing is that I can be with you during the full moon again, like I should have been all along.”

 

Remus smiled back at Sirius as he began to undress in preparation for his transformation, sunset was quickly approaching. A short time later, a wolf lay panting in the spot where Remus had been, recovering from the painful transformation. Padfoot bounded over and sniffed at the wolf, tail wagging wildly. Moony slowly rose to his feet and stretched while Padfoot danced around him eagerly, urging him to play. The wolf shook himself and stretched again before flopping back down again, he was too tired to join in the dog’s antics. When he saw that Moony was settling down to sleep, Padfoot trotted over to him and lay down as well. Curled up together the two canine friends drifted off to sleep, happy to be together again.

 

The following morning, Remus woke to the pain of shifting back to his human form from the wolf, as was usual for the morning after the full moon. Groaning he slowly sat up from where he was cuddled into the black fur of the dog that lay beside him. When Remus moved, Padfoot lifted his head and licked the face that was so conveniently close to his own.

 

“Pads, stop that!” protested Remus as he pushed the dog away from his face and climbed to his feet.

 

Remus wobbled as he stood, too tired from the night’s transformation to stay steady on his feet. Hands grabbed him and he found himself held in the arms of his old friend, who had abandoned his animal form when he saw Remus’ unsteadiness. Sirius helped Remus to the nearby bed and urged him to sit down. As Remus sank onto the mattress with a sigh Sirius’ attention was caught by the scars littering the werewolf’s skin. He had seen many of them before on other full moon nights but there were more now than before. Sirius felt his heart twist with guilt as he thought of all those full moon’s that Remus had spent alone, without his friends to keep him from hurting himself. Trying to hide his reaction to his friend’s scars he turned to fetch Remus’ clothing, saying the first thing that popped into his head.

 

“So, how long have you been using this Wolfsbane potion to control your transformations?”

 

“I was actually one of the first werewolves to be able to use it, thanks to Severus,” Remus answered as he took his clothing from Sirius and began to get dressed. “He had been in contact with Damocles Belby, the inventor, when he had perfected the potion and was ready to test it. With my permission, Sev volunteered me as a test subject and it worked. That was about six years ago and Sev has brewed the potion for me every month ever since. I suspect that he’s been using Hogwarts supplies for it, considering how expensive the potion ingredients are but I’m not about to ask him to confirm that. Unfortunately, since the potion is quite expensive and difficult to brew, most werewolves are unable to use it, I’m quite lucky to have Sev around.”

 

Giving up on donning his socks, Remus lay back on the bed and looked ready to drift off again. As Sirius sat on the edge of the bed to help Remus with his socks and shoes, the werewolf continued sleepily, “When I first used the potion, I was terrified. Severus was determined to stay with me while I transformed so that he could report back to Belby on its effects, and I was sure that it wouldn’t work and I would hurt him, even with the wards he was using to protect himself. But it worked and I don’t have to worry about hurting anyone anymore, as long as I have Sev to brew it for me.”

 

Sirius remembered Harry saying that Snape usually stayed with Remus during the full moon. The guilt he had felt earlier returned and then was suddenly replaced by anger. He was angry that he had lost so many years to Azkaban, years when he should have been there for his friend and his godson, years where the man that he had hated and despised, had taken the place that should have been his. Sirius closed his eyes and shoved the anger and jealousy he felt down. He couldn’t afford to give in to the emotions raging through him. Both Remus and Harry had made it clear that they would not put up with him lashing out at the greasy git and he needed to stay close to them, now that he was free to do so. He needed to be there for Remus and Harry when the snake showed his true colours and turned on them.

 

Sirius’ eyes snapped open at the sound of someone at the door to the room that he and Remus were in. He glared as the very person he had been thinking about came through the door.

 

“What are you doing here, Snape?” he growled.

 

“Now, Pads, be nice. Remember our agreement,” Remus said, laying his hand on Sirius’ arm with his eyes still closed. “That goes for you too, Sevvie, I can feel your scowl from here.”

 

Severus’ scowl disappeared and his face blanked at Remus’ comment. He raised one eyebrow at Sirius and calmly responded.

 

“I’ve come to help Remus get back to the castle. I figured that he would rather recover in our quarters rather than in this … shack.” He tossed a bundle of cloth to Sirius, “Here, you’d better use this.”

 

Sirius scowled at the command but he instinctively caught the bundle. His expression quickly turned to one of shock as he realized what Severus had given him.

 

“James’ cloak … Where did you get it and why ...?”

 

“I borrowed it from Harry because I thought that you would want to stay with Remus today, I remember how you and Potter always made a nuisance of yourself hanging about the infirmary after the night of the full moon,” Severus sneered, “and I’m not about to have you get caught sneaking into the castle. Now put it on and get out of my way. You can follow us to our quarters as long as you are careful not to draw any attention to yourself. I know that you can move quietly if you want to.”

 

Sirius flushed angrily at Severus’ sharp tone but he stood up from the bed and pulled on the cloak. He silently followed the other two wizards as they made their way into the castle and down to their quarters in the dungeons. Soon he found himself sitting in Remus’ room, watching him sleep, while he absently stroked the invisibility cloak that lay across his lap, and wondered how he was going to be able to stand living with Snape that summer. With a shake of his head, Sirius laid the cloak down and pushed himself out of the chair, transforming into his animagus form as he did so. Padfoot shook himself as his front paws hit the floor and then he jumped onto the bed and curled up beside the exhausted werewolf, taking care not to disturb Remus in the process.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I realize that I don't paint Sirius in the best light in this chapter. He's having trouble dealing with the guilt he feels for suggesting that Peter be used as the Potter's secret keeper and also with his anger at all the years he has lost to Azkaban and Severus is a handy target to displace his anger onto. He really needs that mind-healer to help him work through it all.


	17. Werewolf lesson

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Severus covers the third year Defense Against the Dark Arts class for Remus for the last full moon of the school year.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one ended up being longer than I expected it to be, but here we are finally, at the end of Harry's third year. I'm re-reading PoA before starting on the next fic in the series, but the approaching end of the school year means that I'm going to be busy for the next month, and so I'm not sure how long it will be before I have enough written to start posting. If you haven't already, make sure that you subscribe to the series so you don't miss when I start posting again.

The euphoria caused by the departure of the dementors gradually faded as the Easter holidays approached and the student’s workload increased. Hermione drew up revision timetables for all of her friends like usual. She was at her usual table in the Gryffindor common room, surrounded by books when Ron dropped into a chair beside her and idly picked up her own revision timetable.

 

“Hermione, how can you possibly follow this schedule? There aren’t enough hours in the day!” Ron said as he got a good look at the timetable he had in his hand.

 

Hermione snatched her revision timetable back from the redhead. “It’s none of your business, how I’m managing my time. I know what I’m doing.”

 

Harry and Neville joined the two at the table in time to hear Hermione’s response to Ron.

 

“We’re worried about you Hermione,” Harry said, as he sat down. “You’re working too hard, just look at all of this.” He waved his hand to indicate the stack of books and half-finished assignments surrounding Hermione. “Why don’t you drop a couple of courses? You don’t really need Divination or Muggle Studies.”

 

“How can I drop Divination, when I’m taking it from a real seer? I mean Professor Trelawney was right about Pettigrew, on the last Hogsmeade weekend. I can’t believe I didn’t realize that was a real prophecy when you told me about it.” Hermione protested.

 

“Just because she’s a seer doesn’t mean she can teach others how to perform Divinations. It’s not like she was even aware she had said anything to us.” Neville pointed out.

 

“Yeah,” said Harry. “Being able to do something doesn’t necessarily mean that you can teach it. Just look at Professor Snape, he is really good at making potions, but even he admits that he isn’t very good at teaching. Besides, you’re taking Arithmancy and that’s a much more reliable form of predicting the future, you don’t really need to learn Divination as well.”

 

Hermione looked thoughtful, “I’ll think about it, this schedule is starting to get to me. But right now I do have assignments to finish, so I would appreciate it if you lot would let me get some work done.”

 

A few days later, Ron found Harry in the common room after Divination, looking rather wild eyed.

 

“I guess our little talk with Hermione had an affect, she’s dropped Divination,” he said.

 

“What happened?”

 

“Trelawney, told us that we were starting crystal balls early, since ‘the fates’ informed her that our examination would concern the ‘Orb’.”

 

“Isn’t she the one who sets the exam. Why would the fates need to inform her of its contents?” asked Harry.

 

“That’s what Hermione said, though fortunately, I don’t think Trelawney heard her. Well, then Trelawney had a look in my ball and saw another Grim and that was the last straw for Hermione. She had a dust up with Trelawney and left the class after the old bat told her that her mind was ‘hopelessly mundane’.”

 

“Well, at least that reduces her workload somewhat. I still wish we knew how she was managing it all.”

 

The third years had so much work to do over the Easter holidays, that it didn’t feel like a break at all. Despite having dropped Divination, Hermione still had more work to do than everyone else and it showed. She seemed exhausted and on the edge of tears, most of the time. Ron and Neville did their best to get her to take the occasional break, but Harry was too busy to help. The Gryffindor-Slytherin Quidditch match was on the first Saturday after the break and Wood was holding practice everyday as well as endless discussions of tactics. They not only needed to win the match, but they needed to win by more than the two hundred points that Slytherin was ahead by. Wood constantly reminded Harry that he was only to catch the Snitch if they were ahead by more than fifty points, until Harry was ready to scream.

 

The whole school was in a state of fevered excitement in the days leading up to the match. The Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws were rooting for Gryffindor and in response the Slytherins increased their show of support for their own team. When the teams walked out into the field, three quarters of the crowd was wearing scarlett rosettes, and waving Gryffindor flags and banners. However, the Slytherins were sitting together behind their goalposts, everyone of them dressed entirely in green, with Severus in the front row, also dressed entirely in green. Remus stuck out like a sore thumb, sitting beside Severus in his usual brown, with a large black dog at his feet. Harry knew that they had a bet on about the outcome of the game, and he was going to do his best to make sure Remus won.

 

It was the Harry’s toughest match yet, despite the fact that no one was trying to hex him this time. The Slytherins were playing dirty and Harry had to keep Draco from the Snitch until he could go after it himself. In the end it was a close thing but Harry managed to get the Snitch just before Draco did, thanks to his Firebolt while Gryffindor was ahead by sixty points. Gryffindor had won the cup again. Later, after the victory party had settled down somewhat, Harry snuck away, under his cloak and made his way to his dad’s quarters.

 

When Remus let him inside, Harry was immediately swept up in an enormous hug by Sirius.

 

“Great game, pup! That was some brilliant flying. I knew that you would make good use of that Firebolt. I’m glad I got it for you.”

 

Remus laughed as Harry extricated himself from his Godfather’s grasp, “He’s been like that all evening. I think Severus is about ready to hex him senseless, if he doesn’t shut up. Come on Sirius, let’s go for a walk and give Sev some peace and quiet to come to terms with his defeat. Congratulations on the game, Harry.”

 

“Thank goodness,” said Severus, dryly, as he watched Sirius transform into Padfoot, and bound out of his quarters with Remus following. “He was driving me mad but he wouldn’t leave until he had a chance to congratulate you,” Severus smirked at his son. “So you won the cup but only because you had the superior broom. If it wasn’t for the speed of your Firebolt, you know that Draco would have had the Snitch before you. I think that next year will be our turn with the cup, again.”

 

“We’ll see, Dad,” Harry responded. “Draco may be improving but I still beat him.”

 

As the end of term approached, the weather improved and it became harder and harder to concentrate on their schoolwork. The hours dragged as the students tried to force themselves to concentrate on their classes while the warm weather tempted them to laze outside in the sunshine, but the days flew by. Before long it was the middle of May and the third year Defense Against the Dark Arts class was finally covering werewolves, just in time for last full moon of the school year.

 

“I see from Professor Lupin’s notes that you are currently studying werewolves, and you have already covered how to identify a werewolf and ways to defend yourself from a transformed werewolf. Today we are going to discuss the difference between the myths and the reality of lycanthropy.” Professor Snape said to the third year Gryffindor’s as they settled into their seats.

 

As the class turned to the last chapter of their textbook, Harry smiled to himself. This was going to be an interesting lesson.

“How many of you believe that you would be able to identify a werewolf if you met one anytime other than a full moon night?”, asked Snape

 

About half the class raised their hands and Snape sneered at them, “There is no discernable difference in appearance between someone who is a werewolf and someone who is not. How do you expect to tell that you have met a werewolf, Thomas?”

 

Dean Thomas lowered his hand and answered confidently, “Well, they’re evil aren’t they? You’d be able to tell because of the way they behaved. They’d be really aggressive, and…” He trailed off at the expression on Professor Snape’s face.

 

“Contrary to popular belief, being bitten by a werewolf does not affect either the victims personality or their moral sense, while they are still human. Despite their savagery while in their wolfish form, in their human form a werewolf can be as good or bad as the next person. So no, you can’t tell a werewolf from the way they behave.” Snape said. “That being said there are ways to tell if someone is a werewolf, at least around the time of the full moon. Due to the prejudice that wizarding society holds against those that have been infected with lycanthropy this leads most werewolves to lead solitary lives, unless they join a pack of other werewolves. The werewolves that do attempt to remain a part of wizarding society live in fear of getting close to others, for in doing so they risk their secret being discovered. Potter, can you tell me what signs point to someone being a werewolf?” 

 

“A werewolf will appear to grow ill as the full moon approaches and will often be incapacitated for a time after the full moon has passed, due to the strain of the transformation. They will also have at least one scar on them from the bite that infected them, since werewolf bites leave lasting scars,” Harry said.

 

Snape addressed the class quietly, “Usually there is more than one scar. Not only does the werewolf bear scars from the initial attack, but an untreated werewolf that is deprived of human prey will bite and scratch themselves instead, leaving new scars with every full moon. It is only the recent invention of the Wolfsbane Potion that has enabled werewolves to cease to be a danger to themselves, as well as everyone around them during the full moon. Without access to the Wolfsbane Potion a werewolf that has taken measures to ensure that they will not harm anyone while they are transformed, will bear many scars as a result. I know of one werewolf who was bitten almost thirty years ago, at the age of four, and has yet to cause any injury to anyone but himself since then, but he has extensive scarring from over two decades of untreated transformations, from before the invention of the Wolfsbane Potion. Having seen what he is willing to endure to avoid hurting those around him, I can assure you, Mr. Thomas, that not all werewolves are evil.”

 

Dean Thomas blanched as Snape’s attention was suddenly turned on him again. Sinking back into his seat he nodded mutely. Severus looked at the other students and saw that sink in. He knew that it was inevitable that at least some of the students would realize Remus’ secret as a result of these lessons and he was determined that they would have a chance to hear some of Remus’ story as well. As he moved on to other misconceptions about werewolves he hoped that the next class, with the third year Slytherins, would go as well as this one was.

 

After the Gryffindors left, Severus waited for the third year Slytherins to arrive for their Defense Against Dark Arts class. As the Slytherins entered the classroom he noticed that they kept glancing at Draco Malfoy expectantly as they took their seats so he wasn’t surprised when his godson blurted out.

 

“Is Professor Lupin really a werewolf?”

 

Severus’ eyes flickered around the classroom briefly, confirming that the rest of the class was waiting eagerly for his answer. It was evident that this question had been hotly debated before class, and Draco had been designated to be the one to ask him for all of them. Severus turned his attention back to his godson.

 

“Yes, Professor Lupin is a werewolf. How did you figure it out, Malfoy?”

 

“Well, it was the full moon last night and now Lupin is off sick again. He must think that we’re pretty stupid if he didn’t expect us to make the connection once we reached the chapter on werewolves.”

 

Snape smiled, “Well, most of the Gryffindor’s hadn’t made the connection, but Professor Lupin did expect that most of you would figure it out. Now, I’m sure that you have some questions for me, and I’ll do my best to answer them.”

 

Snape waited patiently for the class to recover from their surprise. No matter how sure they were that they were right about Remus’ condition, they likely hadn’t expected him to confirm it so easily. He watched their expressions change as they made the connection between this new information and his apparent relationship with Remus. Pansy Parkinson raised her hand.

 

“How long has Professor Lupin been a werewolf, sir?” she asked when he called on her.

 

“He was bitten shortly before his fifth birthday, so he’s been a werewolf for most of his life,” Snape answered and then went on to answer the question that he was sure was coming next. “I found out in our fifth year at Hogwarts, although I had my suspicions before then.”

 

He watched Pansy’s eyes widen as she took that in, “So you knew…”

 

“Yes, Miss Parkinson, I knew what Professor Lupin was when I invited him to move in with me, but I also knew that he was taking every precaution he could to make sure that he would not hurt anyone when he was transformed.” Snape looked over the class, “Can anyone tell me what happens to a werewolf who is deprived of his desired prey during the full moon?”

 

No one answered.

 

“If a werewolf is confined during the full moon so that he has no access to his human prey he will turn that aggression on himself, and he will bite and scratch himself instead. Having seen the condition that Professor Lupin would return home in after a full moon night, and knowing that he would prefer to endure that rather than risk attacking another, I know that I am in no danger from him. Thankfully, with the recent invention of the Wolfsbane Potion, Professor Lupin is no longer a danger to himself during the full moon, either.”

 

Draco spoke up again, “Why would Lupin be alright with us knowing that he’s a werewolf? He must know that Dumbledore will have to fire him once our parents find out about him. No one’s going to be willing to have their child taught by a werewolf.”

 

“That is why he left this unit until the end of the year. By the time the complaints start coming in, Professor Dumbledore should be able to put them off until after exams, when Professor Lupin would be leaving anyways. He had only agreed to teach for the one year, after all. Speaking of exams, perhaps we had better move on to today’s lesson.”

 

The news about Professor Lupin’s lycanthropy spread quickly through the school as the third year students were found to be comparing lunar charts to their Defense professor’s frequent illnesses. After May 25th, stories of Snape’s lessons also spread, with the result that both teachers found themselves to the centre of attention once more. To Remus’ surprise, no owls arrived from outraged parents demanding his immediate removal, it seemed that the students had collectively decided to keep his secret. All the houses had somehow claimed their Defense professor as one of their own, the Ravenclaws admired his knowledge and dedication to expanding that knowledge, the Hufflepuffs liked him for the hard work he put into his lessons despite his ill health, the Gryffindors had already known and liked the last of the Marauders from his post game visits with Harry over the past few years, and the Slytherins took their cue from their Head of House.

 

The last week of classes passed in a whirl of revision and gossip about Professor Lupin and then the exams were upon them. Hermione’s exam schedule was just as insane as her class schedule had been with more than one exam scheduled at a time but everyone had more than enough to do that week. Finally, the exams were done and it was time to relax and enjoy the last week before the end of term. The day after the exams were done Harry and his friends went to say goodbye to Professor Lupin, who was packing up his office watched by a large shaggy black dog.

 

“I wish you could stay. It was great having you here this year.” Harry said.

 

“You don’t have to go,” said Neville. “No one cares about you being a werewolf.”

 

“Surprisingly, you appear to be right about that but I can’t stay,” Remus indicated the dog lying on the floor in front of his desk. “I have to take care of Snuffles here, he can’t just keep living in the Forbidden Forest, after all.”

 

“We’ll miss you,” said Hermione. “You’re the best Defense Against Dark Arts teacher we’ve ever had.”

 

Remus laughed, “That’s not exactly a ringing endorsement, considering who your other two Defense teachers were but I appreciate the sentiment. If next year’s teacher turns out to be incompetent I will send you suggestions for your study groups again, like I did last year, and I will see you all over the summer.”

 

Glumly the children watched Remus finish packing up his things and head out of the office, followed by Padfoot. None of them had any hopes that next year’s Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher would be competent, after all 1 out of 3 wasn’t exactly a good track record.

 

The exam results came out on the last day of term and even Neville had decent marks in everything. Percy was pleased with his N.E.W.T results and it made him even more insufferable than usual during the leaving feast. He spent most of his time lecturing the twins on the importance of taking their grades seriously, since they had only managed to get a handful of O.W.L.s each. For the third year in a row Gryffindor had won the house cup, much to Snape’s disgust. 

 

On the Hogwarts Express, the next morning, Hermione finally told the boys how she had been making it to all her classes.

 

“That Time-Turner sounds brilliant!” said Ron. “Do you still have it? Think of the possibilities, with something like that.”

 

“I had to turn it back in as soon as I was finished with exams, Ron,” Hermione said. “And that response is exactly why I couldn’t tell anyone about it while I was still using it. Anyways, using the Time-Turner was driving me mad. I dropped Muggle Studies, as well as Divination, so I’ll be able to have a normal schedule again.”

 

“Are you looking forward to having Snuffles living with you, Harry?” asked Neville.

 

“Yeah, it’s going to be great. That is as long as he and The Professor don’t end up killing each other,” Harry answered with a grin.

 

Ron then brought up the upcoming Quidditch World Cup and they ended up talking about plans for getting together that summer, and Ron invited them all to join his family at the sporting event. When they arrived in London, Remus was waiting for Harry with Padfoot at his side. Harry spent the trip home chattering about the World Cup and the Weasley’s plans to go to it. Remus assured him that he could go.

 

“I’ll talk to your Dad about all of us going, if Arthur can get us tickets. After all it isn’t every year that the World Cup is held in England.”

 

Padfoot barked excitedly at that and Remus laughed, “Yes that includes you too, Snuffles.”

 

Mrs. Brown was working on the flower beds at the front of her house when the three wizards arrived at the house on Hadon Gardens.

 

“Hello, Evan. Looking forward to your summer vacation? I’ll bet you’re excited about getting a dog,” she greeted Harry as he stopped to talk to her.

 

“I’m afraid we’re not keeping, Snuffles, I’m just watching him for a friend for a couple of weeks, while he’s away,” Remus said.

 

“I’m going to enjoy it while he’s here though,” Harry assured his neighbour. “This is going to be a great summer.”

 

The following week, after Severus and Remus had worked out a new identity for Sirius, Snuffles was gone and Remus’ cousin, Patrick ‘Paddy’ Lupin moved in with them. Sirius had wanted them to keep the dog but Remus pointed out that it would look odd if their guest was never around at the same time as their dog and he figured Sirius would prefer to be able to leave the house as Paddy rather than as Snuffles.


End file.
